Quotes from Abby Wambach

I'm not spending every second thinking about the World Cup, but it's always in my mind when I make choices and decisions.

I'll be honest. After I got married, I definitely had a shift in emotional devotion.

I hope we can get to a point where women players are being paid properly all around the world so the only thing they have to worry about is playing football and playing football alone.

I always think that struggle can bring out the best in people - or the worst.

As soon as I started to realize that I could make a living playing professional soccer, I went to that place where I could torture myself because I knew it would make me better for the championship game.

Sometimes there has to be a goat on some level, and I'm totally fine with that being me.

During events like the World Cup and the Olympics, I tend to get really wrapped up in my own experience to stay focused, but it's like a bubble. I don't see much outside my own perspective.

Any little touch a defender can make on me when I'm in the air literally moves me. On the ground, I can use my muscle, but in the air, it's harder to fight that off.

If we can trust each other and leave everything-all our hearts-out on the field, I think we're going to have something to come home to and cheer about.

2014 was physically a tough year because I injured my knee, and you know how that goes with your emotions and the mentality.

Sometimes when you fail, it allows you the opportunity to grow more motivation and get more intense about your training.

Forever, it was just soccer - passion, life, love. Then I got married, and I had to transfer some of my energy. I want to be my best for my country, but I also made a really big promise and choice to be the best in my marriage. That has not always been the easiest thing to manage.

I think making the referee aware of a situation, there is nothing wrong with that.

From a pretty early age, my mother realized that I was a little bit more gifted and talented than my own age group. So, she moved me over to play with the boys' travel soccer team when I was about 11 years old.

People don't understand that the feel of the surface is so important for a footballer. The ball travels on the surface; our feet move on the surface - all of that goes into how the game is actually played.

You can do as many sprints as you want but there's nothing like playing in a 90-minute soccer game. There's no better way to gain your fitness, in my opinion, than playing in consistent games.

Today was about execution, period. Every single player, all of us in the dressing room right now, we're embarrassed because that's not the way we want to play soccer.

My go-to karaoke? 'Alone' by Celine Dion.

My parents, they're the kind of people that didn't want me to get a big head, so they just kept challenging me and challenging me.

When you're younger and traveling and visiting new countries and cities, that stuff is exciting; it's flashy, it's shiny, but I always had this separation between who I was as a person and who I was as a player.

I don't know if I found soccer or if soccer found me. Especially because when I was younger, I was doing it, in a lot of ways, because I wanted the attention of my mom and dad.

The truth is, I've been on a team my whole life. I'm the youngest of 7, so I've been training to be an athlete my whole life.

I think, as you grow older, you have figure out the best way to utilize not only your body but your skill.

As professional soccer players, we take our bodies to the extreme. We're the people at the gym that look like we're breaking the machines. Pushing our bodies to the limits is what makes us so strong and capable and Olympians. It's not an easy thing to consistently do over and over again to your body.