1999 Women's World Cup: USA's Iconic Victory

[00:00:00] On July 10, 1999, in Pasadena, California at the famous Rose Bowl, the US Women's National Team, is vying for a chance to win the Women's FIFA World Cup. When the most iconic women's soccer goal ever is made by Brandy Chesting.

[00:00:18] Here's a brief history behind this iconic moment in sports history, on today's short, daily sports history. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to sports history every day, and this is a short episode on one of the iconic moments that has happening during our break,

[00:00:36] and we will be back with you on July 15th. But let's dive into this iconic moment. Now there was 16 teams in this World Cup in 1999, which this was only the third World Cup

[00:00:49] that had ever been done. As the first one was hosted in China, the second one in 1991. This one was to be hosted in the United States for the very first time, and saw a huge boom

[00:01:01] in attendance. As the very first one had about a half a million people in attendance. The second one in Sweden in 1995 had just over 100,000, but the 1999 World Cup had over a million people

[00:01:15] in attendance, which really proved to be that this was a viable tournament. And what was great about this is they didn't just host the World Cup in one location. They actually spread it across the United States, holding games in San Jose, Boston, Washington, DC, New Jersey, Maryland,

[00:01:33] Oregon, and even in Chicago. And it featured 16 different countries, and heading into it, the previous winner was Norway in 1995. But the United States had won the very first World Cup in

[00:01:46] 1991, so they were hoping for their chance to win it again, as it was being held in the United States. And they started out great winning their group A in Brazil, one group B, Norway, one group C,

[00:02:00] and China, one group D. And this led to the knockout round where the United States defeated Brazil and it's in my finals to the zero, to make their way to the finals, to face off against China,

[00:02:12] who defeated Norway in their semi-final, five to zero, setting up the final with China versus the United States. And this dates were high, had some stars that were really pushing the tournament into the forefront for America. And with Mia Ham, Michelle Akers and Brandy Chastain,

[00:02:32] and the game was back and forth affair throughout the entire time, and it was intense, and yet no one could score. Every goal was stopped. And when the indivrigalization happened, the score was zero to zero, which led to one of the most exciting moments in all of soccer,

[00:02:50] penalty kicks. And both teams lined up for their kicks, pushing up the pressure, and they went back and forth back and forth. But in the third round of these penalty kicks, China faltered,

[00:03:02] and the US was able to stop them, which meant that if the US made all of their penalty kicks, as they were five, they would win the World Cup. And heading up into the last kick, it was

[00:03:13] tied four to four with the last kick being the United States. If they made it, they would win the World Cup. But if they missed, they would continue penalty kicks. And up came Brandy Chastain,

[00:03:24] one of the stars for the American team, who had missed a penalty kick just a month earlier against China when they were facing off and getting in the outgrave cup. So she placed it

[00:03:35] the ball on the marker and just non-sroundly steps back to take her running starts and kicks the ball to the right side of the goal, just pass the outreach arm of the Chinese goalie. Going in

[00:03:46] and immediately she goes to her knees as she rips off her shirt, showing her sports bra, cheering, flexing, screaming as her team runs from the half-line to celebrate with her. And this is one

[00:03:59] of the most iconic moments in US soccer history. It's something that was put on posters, mainly because she took her shirt off. Yes, everyone was in all that that's what she did.

[00:04:12] But it was nothing more than you would see at a gym today. It wasn't sexual or anything. It was just cheering in the moment for an excitement. And that's why it stays iconic

[00:04:24] because of that excitement and joy that was done through this moment that we can always remember to this day and talked about for years as it has helped the United States even develop its own

[00:04:37] women's pro soccer league. It has led to the US women being when the strongest women's soccer countries in the world. And that's a brief history of today of this iconic moment. I hope you

[00:04:49] enjoyed this little pop-in today. I didn't want to do a whole episode as I'm still trying to get our family put together and everything we are playing to come back on July 15th. We're

[00:04:59] excited for that. I hope you enjoy it. I hope you don't forget about us. Please subscribe wherever you're listening so you don't miss it. We come back for our Monday through Friday episode said

[00:05:09] we'll come out on July 15th. It means a lot to me that you guys are sticking with me and come back so we can all learn more about sports history every day.