CHAPTER 1 THE SPARK 1999 WOMEN'S WORLD CUP The story of women's professional soccer in the United States starts with the 1999 Women's World Cup If not for the Fédération Internationale de Football Association FIFA organizing that tournament the United States might still be missing out on women's professional soccer The 1999 Women's World Cup Final was on the line as Brandi Chastain prepared for her penalty kick This was just the third Women's World Cup ever The United States had won the first tournament held in China in 1991. Norway had won the second tournament in 1995 in Sweden In the eight years since the first tournament women's soccer had become much more popular around the world The people who organized the Women's World Cup took a big chance with US keeper Brianna Scurry left teams up with Michelle Akers 10 and Brandi Chastain 6 to keep China scoreless
Teammates hug Brandi Chastain as they celebrate their 1999 Women's World Cup victory the 1999 Cup and put the matches in the country's biggest stadiums The crowds had been relatively small in Sweden four years earlier but fans showed up in 1999. The stadiums were packed with screaming fans whenever the Americans played More than 90,000 people packed the Rose Bowl in Pasadena California to watch the final between the United States and China It was the largest crowd ever to attend a women's sporting event And 40 million more fans were watching on TV
Neither team managed to score in regulation or overtime The match went to a penalty shootout American goalkeeper Brianna Scurry stopped a kick from China's Liu Ying The save meant that if Chastain scored the United States would win Chastain was not originally in the lineup to take penalty kicks At the last moment the coach moved her up the order to be the fifth shooter He also asked her to take the kick with her left foot instead of her right to confuse the goalkeeper With the stadium screaming Chastain waited for the referee's whistle When it blew she ripped a kick with her left foot to the goalkeeper's left The keeper dived at the ball but she could not reach it as it scorched past her into in the corner of the net Chastain ripped off her jersey in celebration and fell to her knees Her celebrating teammates mobbed her Chastain's classic celebration ran on the cover of Sports Illustrated It was voted the magazine's second most famous cover of all time Chastain's kick launched women's professional soccer in the United States Less than a year later the first professional league in American history was announced
