On Tuesday an American soccer icon who left an indelible mark on the USWNT’s back-to-back World Cup-winning period introduced her retirement from the sport. At 39, Becky Sauerbrunn leaves behind a 16-year skilled legacy as an Olympic and (twice) World Cup champion, a NWSL lifer and undisputed chief for membership and nation, whether or not with a ball at her ft or a guide in her hand.
“It’s time,” she wrote, in a superbly composed social media submit that felt reflective of the voracious reader and efficient communicator we knew her to all the time be.
She regarded again on a dream-like profession, outlined by ambition and laborious work: “Nothing will examine to the final sixteen years. How may it? The problem of chasing victory. The bravery to fail. The willingness to endure. The enjoyment and aid if you obtain it. The drive to go once more.”
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Sauerbrunn was a considerate chief and a stoic supply of calm for a nationwide group so usually below the scrutiny that sporting dynasties (and vocal advocacy) encourage within the public and press. She led by the instance of her unshakable grace and the proof of her laborious work.
She additionally led by her dependable defensive presence in any backline, marked by her disciplined positioning, steadfast defending and the well-timed contact that saved opposing forwards at bay.
Many will fondly bear in mind her emergence within the worldwide sport. After all, in her debut for the senior USWNT on 16 January 2008, she memorably broke her nostril after a fierce aerial battle with a Canadian fore, departing the pitch early. The damage may not be the fond half, however her unshakable bodily braveness and stolid response was an indication of issues to return.
Within the early 2010s, Sauerbrunn labored her means right into a veteran-heavy squad, contributing to their runner-up efficiency within the 2011 World Cup in Germany, and making an affect off the bench of their Olympic gold-winning run the subsequent summer time in London.
It might be years later, downwind of her relentless work and demonstrable advantage, that Sauerbrunn broke right into a beginning position with the deep and embellished US girls’s nationwide group. By the 2015 World Cup, she’d laid declare to a default position within the US backline and performed each minute en path to this system’s third World Cup trophy and first since 1999. 4 years later, she held issues down once more in France, warding off the world’s high groups in each sport besides their first in opposition to Thailand, because the group willed their means into repeat World Cup renown.
Sauerbrunn began in 167 of 182 appearances from 2013 to 2024, and retires having performed the ninth-most minutes in program historical past. Sauerbrunn’s 219 caps make her considered one of simply 14 gamers to seem greater than 200 occasions for the USWNT. In an announcement launched by US Soccer, the center-back nodded to this lofty mark with a humility and gratitude emblematic of her nature.
“I discovered early on that we had been all simply renting our jerseys,” she mentioned. “That I received to put on the US Soccer crest as soon as was an honor and privilege for which I’m eternally grateful. The truth that I received to do it over 200 occasions is actually humbling. I competed with and discovered from a number of the best gamers and leaders this sport has ever seen, and I take into account myself past fortunate to have been capable of play a small half on this program’s storied historical past.”
Defenders don’t all the time get the glory. However the title Becky Sauerbrunn is inseparable from the US girls’s nationwide group on the top of their double World Cup-winning powers. Sauerbrunn was as important to US supremacy in a decade of trophy-laden success as any single participant.
She was deserving of the highlight, even when she by no means sought it.
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The truth is, Sauerbrunn’s retirement is a fastidiously timed try to forgo the highlight totally. As she instructed former teammate and fellow World Cup champion Sam Mewis on The Ladies’s Sport podcast, she most popular to bid the attractive sport adieu in a quiet second on the finish of a robust season.
“It was such a great 12 months,” she mentioned, noting that it began with a W Gold Cup trophy. Then in what could be her last season in NWSL, Sauerbrunn mentioned: “I received a full season the place I simply received to battle with Portland.”
Sauerbrunn has performed in each single NWSL season for the reason that league’s inception, profitable three titles whereas battling it out for FC Kansas Metropolis, Utah Royals and her last membership residence, the Portland Thorns. Her affect on the success of home membership soccer in the USA is as worthy of recognition as her storied worldwide profession.
Telling Mewis about her last battle in skilled soccer, after 16 years, Sauerbrunn says: “I like that we received to push for the playoffs, that I received to make the playoffs one final time. And that, that final sport in opposition to Gotham, I received to go away my soul on the sphere. That’s what it felt like.”
Sauerbrunn’s farewell comes on the shut of a 12 months that’s seen 5 of the USA’s starters from their 2019 World Cup last dangle up their boots, a bunch that features Mewis, Alex Morgan, Kelley O’Hara and Alyssa Naeher.
Their departure feels just like the shut of a large chapter within the story of the USWNT. It was an period outlined by dynastic success on the worldwide stage and devoted development within the home membership sport. For these of us watching as they charted their careers, it’s been a delight to absorb the inevitable highs and lows of their dream-like exploits, as they achieved exceptional heights and helped develop the sport. Now her enjoying days are nothing, with no regrets left behind.
“Ninety-minutes completed, steam rising off our our bodies – the sense of a job nicely accomplished,” Sauerbrunn mentioned. “Soiled jerseys and scraped legs, all within the service of unpolluted tackles and cleaner sheets. Figuring out that if I step right here, they’ll go there, and now I can win it. The lean of a head and a raised eyebrow that tells my teammate all the things that must be accomplished. After all I’d do all of it once more. In a heartbeat.”
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