She hadn't booted a ball, not for real, in nearly two months. Hadn't pulled on a U.S. jersey in almost half a year. It had been far longer since Tiffeny Milbrett had felt things were right.
The sprite striker couldn't have asked for more from her return to the U.S. women's national team, and she would have settled for much less. After what she'd been through the previous eight months or so, the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup played out like a dream.
In 180 minutes of action, Milbrett scored seven goals – five in one half against Panama – and she was voted the tournament MVP following the Americans' title-game triumph over Canada at the Rose Bowl.
It was a scintillating performance, climaxed by a superb volley from a Kristine Lilly cross in the win over the Canadians, a goal that gave her a share of the tournament's Golden Boot with Canada's Charmaine Hooper and Christine Sinclair.
Such accomplishments were too much to fathom two months earlier, when Milbrett, fresh from a difficult and disappointing WUSA campaign with the New York Power, more or less collapsed from exhaustion.
She did nothing, or next to it, for weeks, slowly regaining her senses.
''It's why I needed a break away [from the game],'' she said. ''Otherwise, I don't know, I probably would have broken down. If not mentally, then something drastic physically could have happened.
''It wasn't a matter of 'maybe I should,' it was a matter of 'there's nothing else I can do. I have to do this; otherwise, I will break down.'''
Milbrett hadn't had a proper break since preparations for the 2000 Olympics began, and she was – it turned out – all played out. Critical was a lack of recovery following the first WUSA season, in which Milbrett was runaway winner of the MVP award after leading the league in scoring and carrying the Power, almost by herself, to the semifinals.
An exhausted Tiffeny Milbrett struggled through the second WUSA season, but two months of rest and recovery paid off in a striking return to the U.S. women's team.
''I didn't really know how to deal with the increased load,'' she said. ''I assumed I should do the same things during the offseason [as before there was a WUSA], where you're pushing yourself. So then we go back to China in January [2002], and then March 1 rolls around [with the start of WUSA training camps]. … It's no surprise why I was exhausted since February. It's because I didn't know how to deal with the increasing demand of our schedule. It took me awhile to figure out that life is different because of this league.''
Her body made it clear early in the 2002 season that things weren't right. Milbrett, among the most dynamic forwards in the WUSA whether exhausted or not, struggled to reach the form she'd exhibited the first season. Scoring goals was tougher, and the Power – primarily because of poor defending – skidded out of control, finishing last with a 3-17-1 record.
Milbrett, who had netted 16 goals in 2001, scored only 10 – none of them at home – and added eight assists.
''The season was about me always trying to shake off being tired,'' she said. ''I can remember maybe two games this whole past season where I really felt fresh and energized.
''Other than that, this year was about surviving … about trying to do your best in the midst of a lot of things wrong.''
The exhaustion manifested itself in migraines and mood swings, panic attacks and depression.
''When you're that exhausted,'' she said, ''you don't have complete strength in your core emotionally, and so you can burst into tears, you can think all sorts of awkward and strange things about life or yourself or other people. It's almost in a way like you're doing drugs, because your perceptions are slipping. … Doctors would probably tell you that when you're exhausted, things aren't working right chemically.''
The two months off, from the end of the WUSA season until U.S. coach April Heinrichs called her into camp before the Gold Cup, proved a godsend, and she returned to the U.S. squad with her faculties intact. Milbrett's game was a little rusty, but it was hard to tell against Trinidad & Tobago, a 3-0 victory in which she found Brandi Chastain for a goal off a corner kick, then finished her own rebound eight minutes later as the Americans took charge.
She was otherworldly against the Panamanians, tallying in the third, fifth, ninth, 22nd and 34th minutes of a 9-0 romp to equal the U.S. single-game goals mark held by Chastain and Michelle Akers. The first four came from superb passes by Aly Wagner or Shannon MacMillan; the last, after a defensive miscue by Panama.
''You never know what the game is going to give you, and the game was generous that day …,'' Milbrett said. ''Every pass was pretty dang perfect. Sometimes it doesn't bounce up just right, or it doesn't roll onto your path, or it doesn't [pull] the keeper out enough and – I think every pass was just perfect.''
Milbrett struck again in the final, volleying Lilly's sensational feed for the first U.S. goal before departing at halftime (in a switch planned before the game) for Mia Hamm, who netted the overtime winner.
Then she picked up her trophies and went off for a little more R 'n' R.
''It's what you have to do – it's really important,'' she said. ''You can't run yourself into the ground. You've got to understand that the offseason is an offseason.''
by Soccer America Senior Editor Scott French