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Friday, September 22
Overbeck not on field, but playing key role
By Joseph White
Associated Press
TUGGERANONG, Australia -- In a 12-year career spanning 165
international games and thousands of practices, Carla Overbeck had
never performed in front of wild kangaroos.
Until Friday.
About 20 of the bouncy beasts, behaving almost like fans itching
for autographs, pounced to the top of the hill overlooking the
soccer field just a few yards away as the U.S. women's team started
to practice.
The 'roos were lucky: They got to see Overbeck run, pass and
shoot in her final days as a member of the U.S. team. Had they come
to a game, they would only have seen her sit on the bench and yell.
The 32-year-old longtime captain is retiring from international
competition after the Olympics, and she's going out as a substitute
who probably won't be needed on the field. That's tough for a vocal
leader who had a string of 3,547 consecutive minutes in U.S. team
games from 1993-96.
"I have no doubt that every time we step out on the field that
part of her is excited and focused on helping this team anyway she
can," coach April Heinrichs said. "And another part of her is
breaking up inside."
Overbeck played every minute of the 1996 Olympic tournament and
the 1995 and 1999 World Cups. Even a year off to have a baby in
1997 didn't knock her off her stride, but knee surgery four months
ago finally did. She barely recovered in time to make the Olympic
squad, and even now she admits she isn't sure whether she could
play 90 minutes.
"It's obviously hard," Overbeck said. "My role's different
this year, but any chance I can get to provide leadership from the
bench, I'm going to do. I wanted to make sure I was still in a
leadership role even though I'm not on the field."
Overbeck didn't play in the U.S. team's three first-round games,
and she won't start Sunday's semifinal against Brazil. But she's
been hard to miss, shouting the same encouragement and instructions
from the bench as she would from her defender's position on the
field. Even fans high in the stands can hear her.
"She's so incredible," said midfielder Julie Foudy, who
reluctantly inherited the captain's armband when Overbeck left the
lineup. "You can hear her screaming. I say, 'Carla, we can hear
you, keep talking.' You know it's so hard on her, but she'll never,
ever make it a team issue."
Even if Overbeck were healthy, it would be hard to get her back
on the field. Brandi Chastain, Joy Fawcett, Kate Sobrero and
Christie Pearce are perhaps the fastest back four in the world, and
they have allowed only one goal in the flow of play in three games.
"You can have veterans that can help lead from the bench, and
you can have veterans that can help the team implode," Heinrichs
said. "What we have in Carla is leadership from the bench rather
than the alternative. She really has taken it to another level of
class."
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