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| Image via Wikipedia |
In the summer of 1999 the United States hosted the Women’s
World Cup, a record-setting event that ignited feelings of nationalism and
pride, as the Women’s National Soccer Team captivated the United States. The
1999 Women’s World Cup can be described as the pinnacle of women’s soccer in
the United States, and even the world. When U.S. member, Brandi Chastain, shot
the team's fifth penalty kick past the Chinese goalkeeper, after double
overtime, the American team swept the nation off its feet. That summer’s events
left a lasting legacy and is considered a milestone, in not only women’s
soccer, but also women’s sports in general. I was fortunate to attend the game
at Meadowlands stadium and is an experience I will never forget. The United
States Women’s national team has dominated the sport on a world level as its
most consistent and successful performer. The game garnered the highest
television audience ever attained for any soccer game in the U.S., men’s or
women’s. The players of the entire team gained stardom, but the most prominent
members, including Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy, became nationally known heroes and
role models for millions of young American girls, including myself. Mia Hamm is
one of the two women named in Pele’s “List of 125 Best Soccer Players of All
Times” and she is a symbol of women’s sports throughout the World. It is not an
exaggeration to say the success of the American women’s national team of 1999
provided the initial thrust for what would become a long and prolific history
of women’s professional soccer in the U.S., and, perhaps, the world.
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