Lilly enjoying 20th year of U.S. soccer

There will come a time when Kristine Lilly is not part of the U.S. women’s soccer team. It won’t be this year, as she captains the Americans in the World Cup. And it won’t likely be before the Beijing Olympics next August, either.

It almost certainly will come at the end of 2008, when Lilly the Legend – a nickname no one other than misguided TV announcers use – hopes she will carry a third world championship and third Olympic gold medal into retirement.

Not that she’s even close to being ready for a life on the sidelines. At age 36, Lilly remains one of the best players and, almost certainly the best leader, in her sport. Actually, she’s been at the pinnacle for an unfathomable 20 years, or since she and a bunch of other teenagers named Hamm, Foudy, Chastain, Fawcett and Overbeck became the foundation of a sports dynasty.

And now, with yet another major tournament on the horizon, Lilly is feeling like a kid again.

Or still.

“It’s still loving the game and being a part of this team and going for a World Cup again,” she says. “I’m representing my country for a 20th year, something I could never have imagined when I was 16 and made the team. It’s become my life.

“In 2003, obviously, we were third in the World Cup, and wanting to win it back is a big deal. I want this group, too, to be champs – they haven’t experienced it yet. I’d love for them to feel that.

“It’s such a great feeling when you get something you want so badly.”

It is a measure of Lilly’s dedication and persistence that she remains at the top of her game, albeit now as a forward instead of an attacking midfielder. Married now and ready to begin a family when she stops playing, she’s outlasted her peers by several years. Indeed, she’s outlasted three coaching staffs, too.

“Yeah, they’re all off having babies,” Lilly says, laughing, of Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain and the other stars who helped win those world crowns and gold medals. “But the void is not on the field. It’s the friendships. For 17 years you saw them every month or for long periods. So it’s the friends you made and don’t see so often that you miss.

“And, of course, they made such a great impact on this team that is lasting and is so special.”

Lilly, naturally, is the most lasting. But this is anything but a prolonged farewell tour for her.

In a recent game against Brazil, which might be the toughest opponent the Americans face at the World Cup in China, Lilly scored on a perfect free kick in the first minute. It was the quickest goal of her career, and it delivered an instant message: I’m still here. We’re still here.

To not be here at this juncture never entered Lilly’s mind. Nor coach Greg Ryan’s. Nor anyone else’s on the team.

“We would talk about it and she said, ‘I think I will keep going.’ None of us questioned her, and it doesn’t surprise me,” Hamm says. “If there’s one person who can do it, she is the one.

“For us, she was always a star and it’s unfortunate that it has taken this long for everyone to recognize it. I know for me, she has been the top five in the world I ever played against or alongside of. I don’t know how she does it. I will go out to training sometimes and she’s still the best player on the field.”

Hamm and Foudy already are in the Soccer Hall of Fame, and Lilly certainly is headed there. These days, though, she’s thinking only about the road to the 2007 World Cup.