WEBVTT - Ours to Win 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:07.480 It's July. Welcome everyone to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:11.920 as we prepare for the much anticipated final between China 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:16.479 and the United States. More than people are gathered to 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:20.200 watch the Women's World Cup soccer final, the largest crowd 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.720 ever to see a women's sporting event. This is more 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:25.960 than a game. This is a defining moment in women's 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:28.960 sports history. It's also about a hundred degrees on the field, 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.520 and the California's son is brutal. The closely fought game 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:36.159 is still tight at zero after one twenty minutes of soccer. 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:40.320 The exhausted American and Chinese players lie on the turf 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:46.360 while trainers massage. They're cramped muscles. Now the biggest pressure 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:48.800 of your lives. For most of these women, maybe all, 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:54.600 they're most important cavally kicks. Ever, the penalty kick shootout 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:58.520 is tied at four, and the USA's final kicker, Brandy Chastain, 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:01.960 steps up to the pen holty box and into the 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:05.960 history books shop stand will take up she missed a 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.720 penalty kick against China. I'll go and they lost that 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:17.560 care Then the woman known as Hollywood to her teammates, 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:19.920 whips off her jersey and sets off one of the 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:25.000 most memorable celebrations in sports history. The party began to pasitator. 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.319 Whether this was that it continues from the roast part 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:32.720 and pasitator have extent just one the woman's world time. 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:37.480 Brandy Chastain's kick mark the climax of a summer when 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.319 millions of Americans and a whole new generation of soccer 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:43.640 fans fell in love with their national team. But it 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:51.840 marks so much more than just that. Maybe it's an 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:56.280 holy shame to day. Roll wasn't built in a day, 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:02.160 puts in the arena, not above the sound and periods 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:12.840 that day. Let us play, Let us play. I'm Sean Braswell. 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:15.959 And This is the Thread, a podcast from ouzie Or. 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:18.600 We unravel the stories behind some of the most important 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:21.839 lives and events in history to discover how one thing 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.840 leads to another. We launched this season of The Thread 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.960 as the US women's national soccer team takes the field 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:31.360 in France for the twenty nineteen World Cup. This July 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:34.120 also marks the twentieth anniversary of the ninety nine ers 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:38.240 U S women's team, whose victory at the Rose Bowl 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.800 on that sweltering summer day remains seared into the memories 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:46.320 of millions. In season five of The Thread, we tell 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:50.040 the incredible backstory behind that World Cup triumph, but it's 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:52.760 not a story that happened on its own. This season 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:55.200 is about how the weight of history builds behind a 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:58.760 single defining moment, how little details can change the course 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:01.919 of history. We'll hear about how nineteen students at Yale 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.359 strip naked in an athletic director's office and changed how 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:09.359 female college athletes are treated, how a largely forgotten black 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:13.720 transgender lawyer laid the ground work for multiple civil rights victories, 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:17.440 and how a single word placed into a single congressional 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:21.120 bill opened up the floodgates of opportunity that led up 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:28.960 to that glorious summer day in the national team's victory 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:32.600 in n was not its first Women's Soccer World Cup title. 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:35.680 It was not even its first championship. In the nineteen nineties, 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:38.560 the team started the decade with a World Cup victory 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:44.400 in China. That experience, however, was very different from ninety nine. 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:46.800 You know, no one has names on their jerseys and 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.600 only some of the games were televised. Jim Cooper is 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:52.520 a soccer analyst and researcher for Fox Sports. And the 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:55.520 host of the Mixed Zone podcast. There had never been 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.760 a women's World Cup before, and FIFA, the governing body 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:01.800 and charge of men's international old soccer, wasn't quite sure 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:04.040 what to do. FIFA felt like, well, we don't know, 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:06.240 if you know, the women can last ninety minutes, so 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:09.400 we're going to make the games eighty minutes long. And 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:12.520 of course they called it not the Women's World Cup. 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.160 They called it the FIFA World Championship for the Eminem's 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:20.320 Cup because the tournament was sponsored by Eminem's. Welcome to 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.920 China and a truly historic occasion. For the first time 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:27.120 in the history of American soccer, a US team will 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.800 play World World Championship. But the U S team did 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.599 not just come to play. Tim Nash is the author 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:34.760 of It's Not the Glory and has covered the women's 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:38.479 national team for decades. No one would believe that the 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:43.400 US could play soccer men or women, or dogs or cats. 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.120 It just wasn't gonna happen. So when they went there 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:51.599 and they started smashing people, it really turned some heads. 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:55.800 The American steamrolled their way through the tournament. They developed 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:59.120 this attacking game. It was just fun to watch. It 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:02.640 was entertaining. They just scored an unbelievable amount of goals. 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:06.120 The team outscored their opponents twenty five to five, winning 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.320 all six games they played. Michelle Acres, an aggressive midfielder 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.280 who later helped lead the ninety nine to victory, scored 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.600 ten of those goals, including five in one game and 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.440 the winning goal in the final against Norway. Michelle with 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:27.120 a boy run up field here open that the US 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.080 beat Norway two to one before sixty five thousand people. 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.640 First of all, Michelle, what can I say? How does 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.040 it feel? I feel great? I mean, I'm gonna be 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:38.520 floating on Seventh Heaven until two years from now. Many, 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:40.279 we better get out of here in a hurry. Between 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:42.760 all the fireworks and the celebration. There's a whole lot 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:44.440 of party and gonna go on down here in China. 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.080 But back in America, a few people cared about the 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:52.840 historic victory. Jin Cooper again, I love the story of 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:56.000 Michelle Acres. You know, when they finally get back to 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:58.880 New York, and you know, and they're all separate and 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.880 going home, and the woman on the plane next her, 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:03.720 it's like, oh, where where have you been traveling? She's 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:05.839 like I was in China, we won the Women's World 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:09.479 Cup and the woman replaced Well, that's nice, dear. No 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.640 one knew what a Women's World Cup was. Caitlin Murray 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:15.440 is a journalist and author of the National Team, The 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:18.400 Inside Story of the Women who changed Soccer. And when 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:22.359 the players got to the airport pretty much known was there? 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:24.719 You know? The players joke there were two people there. 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:28.280 It was their bus driver and their operations manager. Unlike 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.440 there were no parades or appearances on David Letterman. The 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.760 national team played only two games the following year, two 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:39.760 in World Cup. The team lost a heartbreaker in the 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:44.560 semifinals to their old rivals Norway. Then, finally a bigger 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:48.360 opportunity came calling. Women's soccer was included in the Olympics 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:54.799 for the first time. In Tim Nash, the Olympics really 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.960 was the turning point. That was that was a huge deal. 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.279 It was still the question of will anybody come watch? 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:06.080 They did. The women's national team played before packed football 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:09.800 size stadiums. Jim Cooper again, it's such a mixed bag 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.880 the n Olympics because it had such an incredible impact 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.480 on the sport, but not many people got to see 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.240 it unless you were actually in the stadium. Uh. The 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:23.160 joke at the time was they were calling NBC no 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:27.200 bloody coverage because they aired all of about three minutes 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:30.280 of the final. NBC barely covered the Olympic gold medal, 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.720 but there were tens of thousands in the stands cheering. 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.040 This was the beginning of a movement, and for millions 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.440 of fans, the movement was synonymous with a single player. 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:42.200 I could be champion of Women's Well Cup soccer. I 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:49.880 can be a goal like soccer. Mia Hamm joined the 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:55.240 national team when she was just fifteen. She was fast, fearless, relentless, 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:57.840 one of the greatest goal scorers in the history of 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:02.520 international soccer, and by the late nineteen nineties she was everywhere. 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.880 The US gold medalist, Mia ham spens ninety minutes destroying 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:10.600 her hair and ninety seconds bringing it back with pert plus. 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:13.800 Hamm became a household name. She was in a commercial 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:17.840 with Michael Jordan's. She was shy, introverted, but gave hours 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:21.600 of interviews, signed thousands of autographs. It was a duty 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:24.120 she took very seriously. It's kind of cool. I mean, 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.520 one of the coolest things is walking into a stadium 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.440 and seeing those you know, young girls and young boys 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:33.640 wearing your jersey, and it's something that I think is 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:37.600 extremely important and I take responsibility for it. The amount 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.880 of pressure on Ham was enormous and her teammates marveled 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:44.080 at how she handled it all. Tracy Noonan or Tracy 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:48.079 Doukar as she was known, was a goalkeeper on the squad. 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.520 She was, you know, the face of our team, and 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:53.480 she was under a lot of pressure as a forward 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.600 to produce and to score, and you know, she managed 0:08:56.600 --> 0:09:00.920 that unbelievably, in my opinion, Americans started to pay attention 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.880 to women's soccer as never before, just in time for 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:06.560 the country to play host to its first Women's World Cup. 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.800 Marla Essing was the president and CEO of the FIFA 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:16.040 Women's World Cup. The event had last been played in Sweden, 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:19.040 and I think they averaged like maybe three or maybe 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:23.440 even four thousand people per match. So um, they weren't 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:27.719 thinking of big stadiums or major markets. But after we 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:30.680 saw what had happened with the men's World Cup in 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:35.480 ninety four as well as um the women's soccer event 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:40.240 at the Olympics, we felt like the event had the 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:44.719 potential um to to do well. In large stadiums and 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:49.440 major markets. Not everyone was optimistic, author Caitlin Murray. You 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:53.000 have to keep in mind at this time soccer was 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.520 not a popular sport in the United States by any means. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:01.839 One year earlier, the men's team went to the World 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:05.080 Cup and came in dead last place. It was an 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:09.480 absolute embarrassment, and soccer just wasn't cool at the time. 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.719 Many doubted a women's World Cup could fill large stadiums, 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.400 but World Cup planners did their best to prepare for 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.720 any outcome. If tickets didn't sell, they were going to 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:23.559 put up tarps and decorations to hide the empty sections. 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:28.520 They also blacked out time to have concerts, so if 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:32.120 tickets weren't selling well, they would have a concert as 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:36.200 part of the event, and then they could maybe sell 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:40.760 more tickets that way. In the end, the skeptics were wrong, 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:44.480 and perhaps the biggest reason the skeptics were wrong an 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:50.240 unprecedented grassroots promotion campaign led by the players themselves author 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.760 Tim Nash. They went to cities where they hadn't been before, 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:58.040 parts of the country where they had been before. I mean, 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:00.280 they didn't just lock themselves in the hotel. All they 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:01.760 go to and get on the bus and go to 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:05.000 training and come back. They were out in the community. 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:09.240 They're doing clinics, anything they could to sell. Take. The 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.319 players would stay and sign autographs for hours until every 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:15.720 single fan got one. They became ambassadors for the game 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:21.760 and for women more broadly. Tracy Noonan, we were spending time, 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.760 you know, after every event, every game, every practice, UM 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:28.000 signing autographs, meet and greets um, anytime that we had 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:31.000 an opportunity in front of the media to speak and 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:34.680 promote you know what our message was. Goaltender Brianna Scurry 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.360 put it later. We had ownership of that World Cup. 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:39.880 It was ours to put on and it was ours 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:43.880 to win. Marla Messing again, former president of the Women's 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:48.559 World Cup. These were amazing women. Some of them had 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:53.360 been playing soccer and almost total obscurity for over a decade. 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:58.800 They were articulate, intelligent, educated, They cared deeply about the game, 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.240 and they were They were also role models. This is 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:05.720 Lorden Gregg, one of the coaches on the squad. Every 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:08.240 time we stepped out onto a training field or a game, 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:11.320 every one of us looked in the eyes of those 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:13.920 young kids, boys and girls, and knew that we had 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:18.400 such an enormous responsibility to pave a different path for them. 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:21.120 Americans came to know thee and to love them in 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.959 the weeks and months before the World Cup. They wanted 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.120 to be part of the team's journey. I think that's 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:30.319 what endeared them so much the American people is they 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:35.439 became household names. They became people that not just athletes 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.800 that they admire, but people that they admired, and that 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:43.640 they were real and genuine and open, and they were 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:46.560 the role models they never had. And Women's World Cup 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:50.600 tickets started to sell like never before. Soccer analyst Jin Cooper, 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:53.480 four months before the tournament started to announced that they 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.520 had already sold two hundred thousand tickets, which was about 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:02.720 double the attendance of the very small World Cup, and 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:08.240 the response from the press was your line. The players 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.760 themselves didn't quite believe it, and no one knew what 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:13.560 to expect. When the World Cup finally launched that June. 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:17.320 Up next, the team that started in obscurity and became 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.000 the talk of the nation was about to forever alter 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:31.120 the landscape of sports in America. The big day finally came. 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.600 It was time for the U S women's soccer team 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.600 to take the field after months of barnstorming the country. 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:40.520 The team's opener was at Giant Stadium in New Jersey 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:43.640 and eight thou Seed Arena that's usually the side of 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:48.320 NFL games and rock concerts. Author Caitlin Murray. The team 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.400 was going to arrive at Giants Stadium on their team buss, 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:56.480 the way they always do for games. Nothing unusual about that. 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:02.200 But as they were approaching the stadium, the traffic started 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.520 to get really, really bad, and the team was at 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.640 a standstill, and the players started to actually worry that 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:11.480 they were going to be late for their own game. 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.200 The players wondered what was causing all of the traffic. 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:16.839 Was there something happening in New York City that was 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:19.240 backing up to the New Jersey Turnpike. But then as 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:22.480 the ride continues and the players get a little closer, 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:26.040 they start to notice that all these cars that are 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:31.120 congesting the roads have paint on them, let's say, go 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:36.480 USA and American flags, and they realized, all of this 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:40.720 traffic is here to see us. When the players finally 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.480 got to the stadium, they saw people tailgating and playing 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.240 pick up soccer games in the parking lot. The players 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:48.880 had spent so much time getting the word out, helping 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:53.400 market this event, this World Cup, that I think it 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.280 was a really gratifying experience for them to see that 0:14:56.360 --> 0:15:00.080 it had worked. Victory will be bad to day. This 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:03.040 is the largest club whoever with the women's soccer bat. 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:06.320 It was also the largest crowd to see a sporting 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:09.720 event at Giants Stadium. Only the Pope drew a bigger one. 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:13.280 The team filled the stadium. Now they had to beat Denmark. 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:16.520 Team member Tracy Nowton. There's a lot of pressure then 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:19.560 to do well and to win, because if we do 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.560 go big and it flops, what's going to really hurt 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.880 women soccer. A scoreless tie came to an end in 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:29.400 the eighteenth minute when number nine Mia Hamm received the 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:33.240 ball coming down the right side pane, reversing all the 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:35.760 way to be a halb hab Wi down fill out 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:42.480 of the left. The stadium erupts. Ham's teammate mob her 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:44.920 in a sea of red jerseys. That was also really 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:48.680 big release for everybody, like all right, we've got a goal. 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:52.240 Here we go. Everything's gonna be okay. The US one 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.400 easily three to nothing over Denmark. Next they played to 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:58.920 a sold out crowd in Chicago, beating Nigeria seven to one, 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.160 then be North Korea to top their group and advanced 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.920 to the quarterfinals in Washington, d C. To play Germany. 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:11.920 Journalist Caitlin Murray the team started really strong, and they 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:16.200 looked really good until they went up against the Germans. 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:19.680 Just five minutes into the game, disasters struck right in 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:34.280 front of the American goal. It was an own goal, 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:39.160 and the US trailed one to nothing. And suddenly, for 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.720 the first time in the whole tournament, the US was 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:46.440 actually at risk of being knocked out, and Brandy Chastain 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:48.920 was at risk of being the goat for the American defeat. 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:53.800 Coach Lauren Gregg our captain Carla Overbeck went to Brandy 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:56.800 and said, you know, we need you, and basically like, 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:59.480 snap out of it. We need you, you know, just 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:05.280 re framing her. Immediately, four minutes into the second half, 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.840 Chastain redeemed herself, striking a goal to even the score. 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.919 President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton celebrated as 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:15.760 they watched from a suite above the field. The US 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.960 defeated Germany and then blew by Brazil in the semifinal. 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:22.639 Thousands of people started to turn up to watch team practices. 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:25.560 It felt like all eyes were focused on women's soccer 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:29.720 that summer, and no longer just on Mia Hamm Jen Cooper. 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:34.399 One of the smartest things that Mia Hamm did in 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.879 advance of the tournament was say, hey, I don't want 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:41.080 to be in all the ads. So we ended up 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:43.440 getting not just Mia ham out of the tournament, but 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.560 Julie Foudy became a household name, Brandy Chastain became a 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.720 household name, Branda Scurry became a household name. And these 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:53.840 players did almost everything as a team, something even the 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:57.679 television commercials picked up on, including this famous Nike ad 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:02.600 How'd it go? He had to drill I got two fillings, 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.560 then I will have two fillings. But Mia, I just 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:11.920 examined your teeth. They're perfect. I will have two fillings. 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.560 I will have two fillings. I will have two fillings. 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:20.760 Commercials aside. The US women's national team was about to 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:23.639 play the biggest game of their lives. So much was 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.719 writing on that final game against China, and there were 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.600 so many things that could go wrong. Two days until 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:32.879 the finals, and if you don't know what finals, you 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:35.159 may already have missed some of the most exciting sports 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:40.440 action in a long time. Saturday's championship match between the 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.679 US and China and Women's World Cup Soccer s all 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:47.040 the atmosphere of a Super Bowl. The Women's World Cup 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:50.120 final was held in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.920 the fifteenth largest stadium in the world. The U S 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:56.959 team faced a formidable Chinese squad that had cruised through 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.880 the tournament. Team member Tracy Nowton, you know the game 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:02.280 is a chess match, back and forth. I mean it 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:06.040 was opportunities, great saves, back and forth, back and forth, 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:12.160 try and want to count for Chress Bird. The game 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.520 was a scoreless tie after ninety minutes. The American defense, 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:18.919 led by Michelle Acres, held China to just two shots 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:23.399 on gold. Then, ten minutes into extra time, China launched 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:26.000 a corner kick and sent a header toward the far post. 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:30.160 U S goaltender Brianna Scurry, guarding the near post, could 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:37.920 not get to it. Try said, we was clad but homeless. 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:41.720 For God, defender Christine Lily lunged upward and headed the 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:45.600 ball away, preventing an almost certain Chinese goal. The game 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:49.560 was still scoreless after one and twenty minutes. Refreence. Just 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:52.840 look at the watch. That's it the winner, I'll be. 0:19:54.119 --> 0:20:00.520 Women's World Cup will be divided on penalty kicks and 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.320 a penalty shootout. Each team takes turn shooting at the 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:06.440 goal and the opposing team's goalkeeper. The team with the 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:10.879 most goals after five attempts wins. Author Caitlin Murray, the 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:16.320 penalty shootout is just designed to play tricks on people's minds, 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:21.159 and there are all these little psychological things that players do. 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:25.000 Either they look at the goalkeeper so the goalkeeper knows 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:28.000 they're not scared, or they block the goalkeeper out they 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:31.040 walk up. They only focus on the ball, They don't 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:33.840 pay attention to anything else. It was a situation the 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:37.560 US players were well prepared for coach Lauren greg You 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:41.160 never know what moment is going to change a game. 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:45.240 The penalty kicks themselves. We prepared for that. I had countless, 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:49.439 you know, pages and pages of documented plony kicks all spring, 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.960 so we were way more prepared for that moment, as 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:55.119 prepared as you can never be to have to win 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:57.800 a World Cup, you know, and palony kicks. But the 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.600 pressure was still enormous. Caitlyn Murray. I think the players 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:04.439 felt the way of the moment, and they couldn't let 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:08.560 anything going wrong throw them off their mission, which was 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:13.439 to cap off this fairy tale, this moment that they 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:17.080 had helped create. They had to win. The first two 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:21.199 American kickers, veterans Carla Overbeck and Joy Faucet, nailed their 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:24.399 kicks past the Chinese goalkeeper, but China match the u 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:26.679 S shot for shot, and it was two to two 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:29.920 in the shootout, so the pressure mounted on the goalkeepers 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:35.199 to make a save. Jin Cooper, any goalkeeper knows when 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:37.719 you're going into a penalty kick situation, you're lucky if 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:40.440 you get one, but if you get one, you've really 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:43.400 given your team the opportunity to win. As the third 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:47.439 Chinese kicker came forward, the US goalkeeper, Brianna Scurry stared 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:54.119 her down the shots. Scurry dove left and batted to 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:57.000 kick away. Suddenly the Americans had a chance to take 0:21:57.040 --> 0:22:00.440 the lead. It all came down to Brandy Chasting, the 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:04.400 last kicker in the USA's rotation. On the snaps chick 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:15.760 chop Stain will take it. She loss a pedaled kidneys 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:22.520 Chatta the pup and I lost that care. Chastain placed 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:24.720 the ball in the spot and took a few steps back. 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:28.080 Tracy knun It. Yeah. I mean we were all standing 0:22:28.119 --> 0:22:30.600 on like the very edge of the sideline, holding hands 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:32.480 like anything that we can do, Like we kind of 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:33.920 don't want to look, but we want to look at it. 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:36.919 It's so nerve wracking. Chastain fired a shot across her 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:38.840 body to the right side of the gold with her 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:45.879 left foot. Every time I watched that video, it always 0:22:45.920 --> 0:22:48.960 looks like it's going to go out. It's a pretty dramatic, 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:54.240 risky shot to take. The stadium erupted and Chastain's teammates 0:22:54.359 --> 0:23:03.439 rushed toward her, and then the moment that she sported 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:05.680 it was just like absolutely I think everyone just like 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:08.399 ran to Brandy. Of course, Chastain released some of her 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:11.200 emotion by ripping off her jersey and waving it around 0:23:11.280 --> 0:23:13.639 her head. Then she dropped to her knees and her 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:20.240 sports braun with both fists in the air. Caitlin Murray, 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:24.520 there was that iconic photo of her holding in her 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:29.440 jersey in her sports braw celebrating just this release of 0:23:30.200 --> 0:23:34.280 just pure joy. That is a moment that I think 0:23:34.400 --> 0:23:37.320 still to this day is one of the most iconic 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:40.520 moments in all of sports. The victory meant so much 0:23:40.600 --> 0:23:43.320 to women's sports, but it meant something to more than 0:23:43.400 --> 0:23:46.560 just women. Two thirds of the TV viewers who watched 0:23:46.600 --> 0:23:49.920 that World Cup were men. There wasn't a gender tag 0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:52.480 on the game. Stacy, you know, has played on the 0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:55.560 very first women's national team almost thirty five years ago. 0:23:55.960 --> 0:23:57.440 It was just like that was one of the best 0:23:57.480 --> 0:24:01.520 sporting events ever. And people didn't extinguished male or female, 0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:04.600 but they were genuinely walking up to me on the 0:24:04.680 --> 0:24:08.719 street saying, I have never been so captivated by soccer 0:24:08.840 --> 0:24:11.320 in my whole life. That was the best sporting event ever. 0:24:11.800 --> 0:24:15.639 The players paraded down Disneyland's main street in California, they 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:18.240 appeared on late night talk shows, They journeyed to the 0:24:18.280 --> 0:24:20.720 White House to meet the President and first ladys. They've 0:24:20.800 --> 0:24:26.200 definitely stolen our hearts and by creating the largest women's 0:24:26.359 --> 0:24:30.520 sporting event in history, they have exploded the myth once 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:34.159 and for all that women's sports can't attract fans and 0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:38.160 public attention, and it is about time that that has happened. 0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:42.920 It was about time, in fact, it was long overdue, 0:24:43.160 --> 0:24:46.200 and the ninety Niners journey would not be possible without 0:24:46.200 --> 0:24:50.000 another group of talented and undaunted women the first US 0:24:50.040 --> 0:24:54.400 women's national team. We tell their story on the next 0:24:54.480 --> 0:24:57.640 episode of The Thread. The US looked like they were 0:24:57.840 --> 0:25:01.760 playing in their first ever games, and that's how the 0:25:01.840 --> 0:25:04.240 results went. And there were a few upsides to even 0:25:04.320 --> 0:25:07.600 being on the team. The players on the early national 0:25:07.720 --> 0:25:10.880