The Daily Dirt: Abby Wambach rides off into the sunset

Abby Wambach has been the face of women's soccer in the United States for a generation, and with a World Cup medal finally in her trophy case, she's hanging up her boots. Wambach announced her retirement plans Tuesday, and she'll walk away from the international game at the end of this year.

With a lot of mileage on her legs, Wambach wasn't a key player in the USWNT's third World Cup win, but she did help many Americans realize, "hey, women's soccer is pretty awesome, too," four years ago against Brazil.

The USWNT didn't win that World Cup, but it won over a bandwagon full of new fans who have followed the team since. Here's to you, Abby.

Sepp Blatter says USA was supposed to host 2022 World Cup [SBN]

In 2010 we had a discussion of the World Cup and then we went to a double decision. For the World Cups it was agreed that we go to Russia because it's never been in Russia, eastern Europe, and for 2022 we go back to America. And so we will have the World Cup in the two biggest political powers. And everything was good until the moment when Sarkozy came in a meeting with the crown prince of Qatar, who is now the ruler of Qatar. And at a lunch afterwards with Mr. Platini he said it would be good to go to Qatar. And this has changed all pattern.

There was an election by secret ballot. Four votes from Europe went away from the USA and so the result was fourteen to eight. If you put the four votes, it would have been twelve to ten. If the USA was given the World Cup, we would only speak about the wonderful World Cup 2018 in Russia and we would not speak about any problems at FIFA.

Chelsea fail to pull off upset at Stoke, eliminated from Capital One Cup [We Ain't Got No History]

Chelsea scored an equalizer in injury time, but Eden Hazard's miss in the penalty shootout sent Chelsea home after the fourth round of the League Cup. That is just a shame.

Guus Hiddink coy on Chelsea links amid Jose Mourinho doubts [ESPNFC]

With Jose Mourinho thinking of flying the coop, might Chelsea look for their own lucky Guus?

Aron Jóhannsson undergoes hip surgery [SBI]

The up-and-coming USMNT forward will at least be out for "the coming weeks," according to Bundesliga club Werder Bremen. That pretty much rules him out of World Cup qualifying in early November.

What's happening in The A?

The Hawks opened NBA regular season play Tuesday night at Philips Arena, but the Detroit Pistons ruined the party with a 106-94 road win. Detroit made the most of its big advantage on the glass, pulling down 59 rebounds to Atlanta's 40, including 23 offensive boards. The Pistons' 16 second-chance points were the difference.

Continuing their 20-year retrospective, the folks at Talking Chop look back at Game 2 of the 1995 World Series.