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USA dream Hamm's dream

AFP, Athens
Mia Hamm is aiming to bring the curtain down on the most successful career women's football has ever seen here Thursday by helping the United States strike Olympic gold.
Hamm, the most prolific goalscorer in women's football history with over 150 goals in more than 250 appearances, will hang up her boots after the US play Brazil in what promises to be a classic final.
The 32-year-old striker has been the most recognisable face of women's football for over a decade, emerging as the sport's first superstar after making her international debut as a 15-year-old way back in 1987.
She sparked the US team to Women's World Cup titles in the 1991
debut event and again in 1999 on home soil, and also inspired the US team to gold in the inaugural Olympic women's final in 1996.
Now Brazil are standing in the way of a golden send-off for Hamm, who was outstanding during a 2-1 semifinal victory over world champions Germany on Monday, a match rated by many as the best in the history of the sport.
But the win in extra-time has left the ageing legs of Hamm and other veterans scrambling to recover in time for the final.
"We have to concentrate on getting our bodies back, because we expended a lot of not only physical energy, but also emotional energy," said Hamm.
Hamm is one of several veterans in the US team whose international careers are drawing to a close.
Brandi Chastain, who famously took off her shirt and twirled it around her head after scoring the winning penalty in the 1999 World Cup final, and Kristine Lilly have both been outstanding in the US run to the final.
While Hamm singled out several players for praise for their performance against Germany, she stressed that the strength of the team was a unity of purpose throughout the squad.
The substitutes bench had played a key role in lifting morale during the semi-final after the Germans had scrambled an injury-time equaliser which forced the match into extratime.
"The players that were on the bench made just as much of an impact," Hamm said. "Germany ties the game and we came off the field and not one of their faces looked like we were beaten.
"They just were positive and telling us that we had to believe that in the next 30 minutes that we were going to play that we could get this done.
"And that's a huge lift, when you
are emotionally exhausted, and a bit deflated after you have just played so hard to have that goal come when it did, they were tremendously positive.
"We always talk about it being a team victory and it certainly was," said Hamm, the women's football player of the year in 2001 and 2002.
Though the Americans defeated Brazil 2-0 in the first round, Hamm and her team-mates know only too well that the scoreline from that game did not reflect the match, which the South Americans dominated for long periods.
Brazil advanced to the final by beating Sweden 1-0 and are confident they can succeed where their male counterparts have failed.
"We are a country with a big tradition," said Brazil's goalscorer Pretinha. "Now we want the gold medal."