By Paul Martinez
COLUMBUS, OHIO -- The US Women’s National Team
lost midfielder Lindsay Tarpley for the 2011 Women's World Cup, to a knee
injury in the waning minutes of a friendly vs. Japan.
According to US Soccer, Tarpley
tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee with 15 minutes remaining
in the match against Japan on May 14 in Columbus, Ohio.
Tarpley had torn the same ACL while
playing for the WPS Red Stars towards the end of the 2009 season. She recovered
completely and was named to the World Cup squad to represent the US in the
2011 Women's World Cup to be held in Germany.
This type of injury sidelines a
player up to eight months. U.S. coach Pia Sundhage will name a replacement
prior to the next pre-WWC match May 18 against Japan. The final WWC rosters
are not due to FIFA until 10 working days before the start of the tournament,
which begins on June 26.
“Obviously, I’m extremely
disappointed, but I believe that things happen for a reason and I know that
I’ll grow and learn from this,” said Tarpley.
“I had a long road back to
recovery after my last surgery and one of my main goals was to get myself
healthy and competing at a level that would give me the opportunity to make
this World Cup Team. It has always been an extreme honor to be able to wear
the U.S. jersey and represent my country and even though I won’t be
in Germany, I will be there in spirit and cheering on the team from
home.”
Tarpley, 27, is one of the more
accomplished players in US women's soccer history, scoring 32 goals in 120
appearances for the US. On her resume are two monumental and historic goals
for the USA. She is credited with the “golden goal” for a 1-0 victory
over Canada in the championship game of the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women’s World
Cup, and in the 2004 Olympics, Tarpley fired the clinching goal in the
gold medal game against Brazil, a 2-1 U.S. victory.
The 2011 FIFA Women’s World
Cup runs from June 26-July 17 in nine German cities. Team USA faces North
Korea in its first match, June 28 in Dresden.
This is not the first time the
US has lost a primary striker immediately before a World Cup. In a 2003 WUSA
match, forward Shannon MacMillan was sidelined just before the start of the
World Cup with the same type of injury, and the US went on to place third.
The US has not won since 1999.
Sundhage said “It is sad to
lose Tarp as she is a fantastic person and a great player. She will be missed
on and off the field. But now we have to make some decisions and we will
do that quickly as it’s important to have our entire roster together
as we move towards the World Cup.”
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