The moment symbolized Wambach’s approach to her final World Cup, to be played across Canada from June 6 to July 5: headlong, blunt, ruthless, unswerving. She scored two more goals Sunday night in a 5-1 exhibition victory over Mexico. She will seek to score again in the final pre-World Cup exhibition, against South Korea next Saturday at Red Bull Arena.

Wambach will turn 35 on June 2, six days before the Americans open World Cup play against Australia. She has two Olympic gold medals but no World Cup title. She made a controversial choice not to play this season in the National Women’s Soccer League, choosing to train mostly on her own when apart from the national team. This is her last chance. Surgery on her nose can wait. Career fulfillment cannot.

“It’s something that’s lacking on her résumé, and I think it’s her everything right now,” Judy Wambach, Abby’s mother, said. “She thinks it will validate her, but she’s also realistic. It’s a game. But she would be brokenhearted if her team didn’t win.”

A self-described person of extremes, Abby Wambach is rounding into form in a familiar last-minute manner. Her teammates, she concedes, find this approach both predictable and frustrating. For months, questions have hung in the air like balls served toward her head. Had her determination ebbed? Could she be a regular starter? Did she still have the stamina to play 90 minutes?