Abby Wambach tangles with Colombian player, gets punched (Video)
Abby Wambach had a memorable day in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday for multiple reasons. Not only did Wambach become the leading goal-scorer at the Olympics in US women's national team history, but she also ended up punched in the eye after tangling with one of her opponents.
During the 39th minute of the US's 3-0 win over Colombia, Wambach tangled with Lady Andrade and ended up punched in the eye. It's difficult to tell exactly what happened, but the two made contact after seemingly fighting for position. Lady Andrade's hand ended up smacking Wambach in the eye either intentionally or incidentally, and Wambach went down immediately.
The 32-year-old forward, whose eye was swollen after the game, described the incident as a sucker punch.
"I'm running toward the goal to get position, and I got sucker-punched," said Wambach, according to The Associated Press. "It's clear. We have it on film, so it's up to the Olympic committee and FIFA to decide what to do."
Lady Andrade had a different take on the incident.
"Nothing happened," she said through an interpreter. "It was just a normal part of the game. We were both running, she ran across me and we collided. I had my hands in the air. It was an accident."
While Wambach wants Andrade disciplined for the punch, Andrade says the US got away with a lot.
"I think they should be, too, because they're the United States. The whistle always goes in their favor. They were hitting us and hitting us, but there was never a whistle."
The two can quibble over what happened, but what really matters is the outcome and that went to the US. Wambach can also claim scoreboard after scoring in the 74th minute to make it 2-0. The goal also gave her the US Olympics record. She'll have much more to worry about going forward, including settling the beef between Hope Solo and Brandi Chastain.
Video via SportsGrid
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