After injuries cost her roster spots in 2003 and 2007, Heather Mitts will play in her first World Cup later this month in Germany. Just a nod of the head. A simple yes. That’s all Heather Mitts was looking for.
Her World Cup dream, after years of frustration recovering from two major injuries that cost her roster spots in 2003 and 2007, had come down to 45 minutes. Forty-five minutes to show U.S. coach Pia Sundhage she was fit enough, strong enough, to make the team.
Whitney Engen, a 23-year-old defender, had been practicing with the team and would replace Mitts on the roster if the answer was no.
Mitts was fidgety on the bench in the first half of Sunday's World Cup send-off game against Mexico at Red Bull Arena. And at halftime, while the rest of the team was in the locker room discussing strategy, Mitts was on the field running sprints to loosen a pesky hamstring.
Forty-five minutes. Her last chance.
Mitts played a solid second half, although she took a bad angle on a few challenges. She showed a burst of speed to run down the player with the ball. When the game ended, while the rest of her teammates were hugging Lauren Cheney for her game-winning goal in the 92nd minute, Mitts looked to the bench.
Sundhage gave her the nod.
“I was starting to think I had the World Cup jinx,” a smiling Mitts said afterward. “I’m obviously ecstatic about the whole thing. The fact that I’m actually going, I can put it out of my mind and I can look forward to my first World Cup.”
This isn’t a tale of a young kid, like Engen, just looking for a place on the team. Mitts will turn 33 on Thursday, and when the World Cup begins in Germany June 26, she will become the oldest player in U.S. women’s soccer history to make her debut in the tournament.
But the story goes further.
There was a time Mitts topped Mia Hamm as the poster girl of U.S. women’s soccer. Hamm was already a goal-scoring star before Madison Avenue turned her into a sports sex symbol.
As a defender, Mitts had no stats. Just skinned knees and bruises. But she is an attractive woman and the offers came rolling in.
In 2001, she was voted the sexiest player in the WUSA on playboy.com. A year later she was on the cover of Philadelphia Magazine as one of the city’s sexiest singles. In 2004, she was voted ESPN.com’s sexiest female athlete.
She was also the first soccer player to appear in a photo spread in the men’s magazine FHM, was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and appeared in the 2005 SI swimsuit issue with then-fiancé, now husband, A.J. Feeley of the Rams.
“It was fun for me. It was flattering,” Mitts recalled. “Obviously it doesn’t happen often and it wouldn’t have been happening if I wasn’t a professional soccer player. I made the most of it while it lasted, and it was obviously short-lived. I’ve been very fortunate to do something I love and have all the other stuff that comes with it. It’s been amazing.”
But there were setbacks. In 2003 she was selected to the World Cup team but broke her leg and missed the tournament. Later that year the WUSA folded. Mitts was set to play in the 2007 World Cup but suffered a torn ACL a few months before the opening game.
So Mitts did ESPN studio work during both tournaments, did sideline reporting during MLS games, color commentary for women’s college soccer, and even co-hosted a tailgate show for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Along the way, she earned Olympic gold medals in 2004 and 2008, but there was always that World Cup void. And there was always that hope deep inside that someday, people would appreciate her for her athletic skill rather than for her physical appearance.
“I was kind of hoping that would always be the case, hoping people will see you doing the job, then see that there’s more to it,” said Mitts, who has 116 caps in an 11-year international career. “Hopefully they’ll appreciate me for the hard work that I put in on the field.”
So she put the off-the-field part of her life on hold.
“I decided to focus solely on soccer right now and try to make the World Cup team and the (2012) Olympics and make the most of my career because I know it’s not going to last much longer,” said Mitts, who plays for the Atlanta Beat. “All the other stuff didn’t interfere, but I just wanted to focus 100 percent on soccer.
“As I get older I need to work a little bit harder staying in shape. When I was young I could do that stuff, but now I can’t juggle that many things.”
ETC.
Alejandro Bedoya has replaced Benny Feilhaber on the U.S. Gold Cup roster. Feilhaber injured an ankle in a recent MLS game.
Vancouver forward Eric Hassli picked up his third red card of the season in just 13 games.
The Timbers will play Independiente of Argentina in a friendly July 26 in Portland.
Sporting Kansas City wrapped up a 10-game road trip to start the season with a 1-6-3 record. It will christen Livestrong Sporting Park on Thursday night against the Fire.
FC Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman recorded his 100th career shutout in Saturday's 1-0 win over the Revolution. Hartman, 37, has a league-leading seven shutouts this season. Real Salt Lake's Nick Rimando is second in MLS with 79 shutouts.
The Rapids set an MLS record with their sixth consecutive tie.
The expansion Western New York Flash, who have yet to lose in their inaugural Women's Professional Soccer season, fired general manager Henrik Ambarchian. Team owner Joe Sahlen is expected to take over the GM duties.
Mexico finished its pre-Gold Cup exhibition tour in the United States with a 3-0-2 record and averaged 51,000 fans per game.
Ecuador plays Greece in a friendly tonight in the first soccer game at Citi Field.
Former U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel, 40, left Aston Villa on a free transfer and agreed to join Tottenham.
Midfielder Paul Scholes, who won 24 trophies with Manchester United, announced his retirement. Scholes, 36, who made 676 appearances for the club, will become a coach at Man U. He also played 66 times for England.
Man U forward Michael Owen extended his contract for another season.
Mark Hughes resigned as Fulham coach after one year and could be in line for the Aston Villa job, which became open when Gerard Houllier stepped down for health reasons.
Portsmouth has been bought by a sports group controlled by Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov.
Former Bolton and Newcastle coach Sam Allardyce is the new coach at West Ham.
Carlo Ancelotti, fired last month at Chelsea, says he will take a season-long sabbatical before he coaches again.
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney reportedly has had a hair transplant.
Former Liverpool forward Robbie Fowler, 36, told Perth Glory he won't be returning for the next Australian league season due to family reasons. Fowler, who scored nine goals in 28 games last season, also said he wanted to pursue his coaching qualifications in England. To replace Fowler, Perth signed former Hibernian midfielder Liam Miller.
Robbie Keane became the first British/Irish player to reach the 50-goal mark when he scored twice in Ireland's 2-0 victory over Macedonia in a European Championship qualifier. Keane's 51 goals breaks the tie at 49 with Bobby Charlton.
Portugal is 5-1-1 since Paulo Bento replaced Carlos Queiroz as coach in September.
Ronaldo will play a few minutes and earn his 98th cap today against Romania when he retires from the Brazil national team. Ronaldo, 34, scored 62 goals for Brazil and is the World Cup's all-time leading scorer with 15 goals.
Egypt coach Hassan Shehata, who led the team to three consecutive African Nations Cup championships, stepped down by mutual consent after a scoreless tie with South Africa pretty much ended Egypt's chance of qualifying for the tournament it has won a record seven times.
Egypt last failed to qualify in 1978.
Cameroon, a four-time champion, also has little hope of qualifying following a scoreless tie with Senegal. Cameroon captain Samuel Eto'o missed a penalty kick in second-half stoppage time.
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque tied Luis Aragones for the most victories as national team coach with 38 after beating the U.S., 4-0. He can break the tie today when Spain plays Venezuela.
Barcelona captain Carles Puyol underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and is expected to be out two to three months. The club hopes to have him back for the Spanish Supercup series against Real Madrid Aug. 14 and 17.
Valencia signed goalkeeper Vicente Guaita to a three-year contract extension and Almeria goalkeeper Diego Alves to a four-year contract.
Philippe Montanier left Valenciennes to coach Real Sociedad.
Penarol of Uruguay and Santos of Brazil advanced to the two-leg final of the Copa Libertadores, which will be played June 15 and 23.
Striker Miroslav Klose is leaving Bayern Munich after failing to agree to a new contract.
Armin Veh, fired by Hamburg with eight games to play last season, is the new coach at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Augsburg, promoted to the Bundesliga, signed 26-year-old striker Sascha Moelders from FSV Frankfurt of the second division, where he scored 18 goals in 47 games.
Hamburg, looking to rebuild, signed 23-year-old England youth team defender Michael Mancienne and Italy Under-19 midfielder Jacopo Sala, both from Chelsea.
Schalke, which confirmed that goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is leaving for Bayern Munich, signed Mainz left back Christian Fuchs.
Qatar Sports Investments acquired a 70 percent ownership stake in Paris Saint-Germain. Financial terms of the deal were not announced. Colony Capital, based in Santa Monica, Calif., will retain the remaining 30 percent of the shares.
Former Lazio captain Giuseppe Signori was among 16 people arrested for alleged involvement in a match-fixing and betting ring throughout Italy.
Antonio Conte, who won five Serie A titles with Juventus, has been appointed the club's new coach. Conte, who guided Siena to promotion to Serie A this season and Bari to promotion in 2009, played for Juventus from 1991 until he retired in 2004 and won the 1996 Champions League and the 1993 UEFA Cup.
Palermo coach Delio Rossi and the club have split again, this time by mutual consent. Rossi was fired at Palermo in February and rehired two months later after Serse Cosmi was fired. He will be replaced by former Chievo Verona coach Stefano Pioli.
Romania coach Razvan Lucescu resigned Saturday after his team beat Bosnia, 3-0, in a European Championship qualifier. Romania is in third place in its group with a 2-2-2 record.
Former Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva signed with Gremio.
Frank Giase: fgiase@starledger.com