What's next for Christie Rampone?

Is the handwriting on the wall for Captain America? Is her time on the US Women's National Team done? Are injuries and age starting to catch up with Christie Rampone? Does she have enough left in the tank to play a full season with Sky Blue FC?

Answers to those question may be coming quicker than Rampone would like. While US teammate Megan Rapinoe's ACL tear grabbed the headlines last week in Hawaii and led to the national team cancelling a Victory Tour game, Rampone was also came down with a season-ending injury in Hawaii and those have more ramifications for fans in New Jersey.

US Soccer has shut down Ramone, the 40-year-old defender and captain of the team, with what they call "ongoing knee issues." Rampone is back in New Jersey now but will likely join her teammates Wednesday in New Orleans. That match will be the team's final match of the calendar year but more important will be Abby Wambach's sendoff match. Injuries have forced her to miss a majority of the matches in 2015 - she started only two match of 23 and played sparingly in seven matches.

With Julie Johnston stepping up to the center back spot, Rampone was a woman without a position during last summer's Women's World Cup.

This latest injury has put a damper on whether she will make the Olympic roster for the Summer Games in Rio - or whether she should even try. Many are expecting her to follow the lead of her teammates like Shannon Boxx, Lauren Holiday and Wambach and retire from the international and club play.

Upon returning from the World Cup last July, Rampone said she would continue with National Team play-- meaning the Olympics -- if her body held up. But right now, it's not holding up.

Rampone has been a wonder of fitness that has fought well to defy the aging process. But is it time to consider going out in style with the rest of her teammates? With two World Cup medals, three Olympic gold medals and one silver, 311 caps and the oldest player to appear in a World Cup match, her international career is already epic.  There is nothing left to prove.

I've known Rampone since she was a teenager at Point Boro High School. I've seen her mature from a quiet, shy but tremendous to a leader and a world class player -- not just for her team but for the sport. A natural scorer in high school and college, Rampone made herself into an elite defender on the largest stage of them all.

Personally, I'd like to see her become a player-coach for Sky Blue FC. She has too much to offer, especially in her home state. She's said before she might not necessarily feel comfortable coaching her peers.

But Rampone as a leader has no match - at least in women's soccer arena. There's no doubt her teammates on Sky Blue would listen when she speaks.

The smart money says she will drop out of the international game and it's even money she'll retire altogether.

But Rampone won't bother with playing the odds. She knows her body better than anyone else. She also knows what will put her at peace with her career. She'll weigh the lure of another Olympic medal.

She'll listen to her body. And there's no doubt she will do what's right - for her and for the sport.