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This Day In Sports: Women’s soccer is a thing – for good

1999: The launching pad for the rise of popularity of women’s soccer in the U.S., as the Americans win the World Cup with an exclamation point from Brandi Chastain.

BOISE, Idaho — Editor's note: Video posted above is a June 25 interview with current U.S. women's national team member Sofia Huerta after she was named to the 2023 World Cup roster.

THIS DAY IN SPORTS…July 10, 1999:

With a Rose Bowl crowd of 90,185 — a world record for a women’s sporting event — rooting them on, the U.S. women’s soccer team produces one of the great moments in American female athletics. After the final went scoreless in regulation, the U.S. defeated China 5-4 on penalty kicks to win the FIFA World Cup. It was the Americans’ second World Cup crown, but the first to attract massive attention across the country. The tournament was only the third women’s World Cup in history (the first one was in 1991).

The 1999 World Cup field was expanded from 12 to 16 teams and was the first to feature exclusively female referees and match officials. The event was hosted by the U.S. at large football stadiums around the country, including Stanford Stadium (the original one) in the Bay Area, Foxboro Stadium in Massachusetts, Jack Kent Cooke Stadium in Washington D.C., Soldier Field in Chicago and Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Credit: Mark J. Terrill/AP File Photo
USA soccer star Brandi Chastain rips off her jersey after kicking the game-winning goal in a penalty shootout against China in the FIFA Women's World Cup Final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif, July 10, 1999.

After going undefeated in Group play, the U.S. advanced to the knockout stage and beat Germany in the quarterfinals and Brazil in the semis to reach the championship match against China. The Americans and the Chinese had met in the gold medal match at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, with the U.S. winning 2-1. This time, it took a penalty shootout to decide it. The game-winning kick — and one of the most replayed highlights in history — came from Brandi Chastain, who promptly ripped off her jersey, revealing what became soccer’s most famous sports bra ever.

It was a defining moment in women’s soccer, as attendance averaged 37.319 for the tournament after crowds at the 1995 Women’s World Cup in Sweden averaged less than 4,500. TV audiences responded in kind. The final in Pasadena averaged 17.9 million viewers on ABC and peaked at 40 million. The U.S. would go on to finish third in the World Cup in 2003 and 2007 and was runner-up in 2011. But the Americans go into this year’s tournament as the two-time defending champions and begin their quest for a fourth World Cup title later this month. With Centennial High grad Sofia Huerta in tow, no less.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)

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