Abby Wambach: We can get revenge at Olympics

The U.S. women's soccer team is back home after just missing its third World Cup victory. The team lost to Japan on penalty kicks in Sunday's World Cup final in Germany

On "The Early Show" Tuesday, two of the team's top goal scorers, Abby Wambach and Lauren Cheney, reflected on the loss.

Wambach said it's going to take some time for it to settle in but, "The outpouring of support that we've gotten here since we've gotten home to the States has been unbelievable. Times Square, I mean I went for a walk last night, and I must have gotten stopped 100 times. Just congratulating us. People appreciate what we did. Hopefully, we inspired a country. The Olympics are just around the corner. Hopefully, we can bring home that gold."

"Early Show" co-anchor Chris Wragge noted, "And you can get revenge" at the Olympics.

"Revenge, for sure," Wambach said.

"Early Show" co-anchor Rebecca Jarvis asked how the team will prepare for the Olympics in light of the loss.

Cheney said, "We obviously had a great run in the World Cup. And we did a lot of good things and played a lot of good soccer. I think the final game was our best performance. Possession-oriented. I think we build off of that. I don't think it's a negative thing. And I think we build off of that and we keep going for the Olympics."

The game, Wragge noted, brought out a lot of American fans.

Wambach said, "You know what? It's amazing the kind of reception that we had. The people came out in droves, obviously. And I watched some video footage of people walking out of the bars after we -- we can't pull it out in the penalty shoot-out, and people were literally sad and depressed."

She continued, "I don't know how that it came to that. But I think that, this country was so supportive. We got so many great e-mails, text messages. Obviously, the people came out and supported us through this whole thing. We're just so sorry not to have brought home the World Cup. But you know, we do a lot of things over there. We inspired people, and I think in the end those are the positives that we're going to really take away from this."

When asked by Wragge if the team was just outplayed, Wambach said, "No, it was a penalty kick shoot-out. It was the second penalty kick shoot-out in this tournament, so having the goalkeeper from the other team know maybe where some of our shooters were going, it gives them the added advantage. Very rarely does a goalkeeper save two penalties in a penalty kick shoot-out."

Co-anchor Rebecca Jarvis asked what kind of music the team listens to to get pumped up for games.

Cheney, the team's unofficial deejay, said they start out with slow music.

She said, "We get there early. You have to start out with a little bit of Adele, start out slow and then we build up to Katy Perry and Journey, 'Don't Stop Believing,' and a little bit of Michael Jackson in there."

Wragge said, referring to Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," said "A little 'Want to be starting something'?"

Cheney said, "More like 'Man in the Mirror.' You know, try to inspire before we go out there."

But what does the future hold for the soccer stars?

Wambach, now 31, will be 35 when the next World Cup comes around. She said her mother has talked to her about the loss.

"My mom was telling me maybe this is like, kind of the way that you're supposed to go through your career," Wambach said. "'Maybe you're not supposed to be finished. I mean, how can you end on that note, right?' So I don't know. We'll see how I'm feeling in four years if I'm capable of walking without crutches."

Co-anchor Marysol Castro said she's more worried about Wambach's head - the body part where a 40 percent of her goals are struck.

"I'm lucky that I'm still talking in normal sentences," Wambach said, adding, "We as a team obviously scoring is great. Getting balls served in to me (by my teammates) makes my job so much easier. And I don't know, I think that, that scoring with your head is a unique ability. It's something that I've always been good at, and I don't know, I guess I just got -- I was in the right place at the right time during this tournament."

Wragge remarked, "You know, we thank you guys for coming. We know it's been a difficult couple of days with all the travel and all the commitments you've had. We appreciate talking to you and we're just so darn proud of you."

Wambach said, "Thanks to all the people and the fans around the world and this country, especially for all the support. We've really needed it."

Wragge said, "The Olympics in London right around the corner. Gold medal, you know what, we'll call it a draw."