United States women's national team defender and former captain Becky Sauerbrunn announces retirement from professional soccer

CHICAGO (December 17, 2024) Becky Sauerbrunn, one of the greatest defenders and leaders in the history of the United States women's national team, has officially announced her retirement from professional soccer.

Sauerbrunn, 39, ends a successful 16-year international career that also saw her play every year in the National Women's Soccer League to date, winning two championships (2014 and 2015) during her five seasons with FC Kansas City before playing two. seasons with the Utah Royals, then the last five seasons with the Portland Thorns. Sauerbrunn helped Portland win the 2022 NWSL title and the 2021 NWSL Shield.

For the United States women's national team, Sauerbrunn played in three Olympics and three Women's World Cups, and would have competed in a fourth, but a foot injury knocked her out of the 2023 tournament.

I learned early on that we were all just renting our jerseys, Sauerbrunn said. The fact that I was able to wear the emblem of American football was an honor and a privilege for which I will be forever grateful. The fact that I have been able to do it over 200 times is truly humbling. I have competed and learned from some of the greatest players and leaders this sport has ever seen, and I consider myself beyond fortunate to have been able to play a small part in the history of this program.

Sauerbrunn earned only three caps in his first three years in the USWNT player pool from 2008 to 2010, and infamously broke his nose during his first cap on January 16, 2008, which was also Pia Sundhages' first match as head coach. This would be a minor setback.

She began working her way into the USWNT roster in 2011 and earned a spot on the team for the Women's World Cup in Germany. She did not see action in the first four matches, but after Rachel Buehler received a red card in the famous quarter-final penalty shootout victory over Brazil – the match which featured the iconic Megan Rapinoe v Abby Wambach equalizing header – Sauerbrunn stepped up. in a huge way. She started the 3-1 semifinal victory over France, spending the entire 90 minutes to help the United States advance to the final, a foreshadowing of what was to come in her career.

Sauerbrunn was a key contributor off the bench in 2012 and played three matches at the London Olympics to help the United States win the gold medal at a packed Wembley Stadium.

From there, she was a consistent starter for the rest of her career, starting 167 of her 182 caps between 2013 and 2024. She finishes her international career with 219 caps (185 starts), good for 10th all time in USWNT history. Long praised for her incredible consistency and quality under pressure, from late 2014 until 2018, she started 73 consecutive matches in which she played.

Sauerbrunn, who became a valued teammate and quiet leader, played an integral role in the United States' run to the 2015 and 2019 World Cup titles, playing every minute in Canada and only missing the first game (a 13-0 victory against Thailand). ) In France. The United States has only allowed three goals in each of these World Cups. She captained the United States 42 times in her career, the fifth most times to wear the armband in USWNT history. She also has a bronze medal from the delayed 2021 Olympics in Japan.

Having never scored for the US national team, a statistic that many fans yearned for her to remedy but was never important to Sauerbrunn, she holds the record for most caps without a goal at the USWNT. She has seven assists in her career and is currently ninth all-time in minutes played for the USWNT with 16,909. She is one of 14 American players to have played 200 or more times for their country.

Sauerbrunn also helped the United States win eight Concacaf championships, in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024.

One of the most impressive things about Sauerbrunn's career has been her consistent excellence at the club level, where she has experienced the NWSL's massive evolution firsthand. She was a four-time NWSL Defender of the Year and finished her professional club career in the all-time top 10 for NWSL minutes played (16,217), matches started/played (184/189) and matches won (83). She played in 10 NWSL playoff matches to go along with her 189 regular season matches. She is one of 12 original NWSL players to see action during the 2024 season and one of eight players to earn minutes in every NWSL season from 2013 to 2024. She been named to the NWSL Best XI seven times, more than any other player.

Sauerbrunn grew up in the United States junior national team system, attending the U.S. U-14 identification camp in 1999. She played for the U.S. U-16s and was a starter at the U.S. Women's World Cup. -19 from FIFA 2004 in Thailand, where the United States finished. third. She was named to the all-tournament team. She went on to play for the United States U-21s and U-23s, but it would take her three more years to earn a full USWNT selection, beginning a career on one of the greatest teams of all. times.

Rebecca Elizabeth Sauerbrunn grew up in the historic football hotbed of St. Louis, Missouri, where she attended Ladue High School. The football field now bears his name and played for the JB Marine Soccer Club. She was twice named Missouri Player of the Year, was a high school All-American and was recruited to play at the University of Virginia where she was a standout for the Cavaliers from 2003 to 2007, playing 90 matches, and was named a First Team All-American.

She was one of the last remaining NWSL players who also played in the WPS, the second professional league in the United States, where she played for the Washington Freedom and MagicJack. She also had a brief stint in the Norwegian top division with Ra IL in 2009.

Sauerbrunn's career was also marked by her outspokenness and extensive work in the areas of equal pay, women's rights, and racial quality, and she leaves behind a legacy of excellence and humanity on and off the field.

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