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The '99 women's World Cup team: Why the appeal?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Dick Whitman, Jul 18, 2011.

  1. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I think some of you are analyzing this a bit too much... It was in U.S., and this team was impossible not to like.
     
  2. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    Luggy, I think you meant you "can't" replace someone like Kristine Lilly. And you're right.

    As for the coach, if someone from abroad wants to coach the Americans, so be it, especially if they're more qualified. Pia Sundhage isn't going anywhere ... until Sunil Gulati is brain-dead. She seems to love coaching the Americans, and the team feeds off her positive energy and messages. What? You want Greg Ryan again?

    The '99 team was lightning in a bottle. They were very good, many of them were photogenic and, more importantly, they didn't act like it. Mia Hamm was an obvious pick, and players like Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy helped the cause. Didn't hurt for parents, especially of the girls who showed up by the thousands for the matches in '99, that Carla Overbeck continued to play at a world-class level after having children. And, thank goodness, Tony DiCicco was on the bench instead of Anson Dorrance. They were easy to talk to, they were accessible and they were in almost as much disbelief as the readers and viewers that they were getting all this attention. We all rode the wave, and the team was kind and smart enough to take viewers, readers and fans along for the ride.

    I was working desk, among other duties, in '99. No pressure on my end to play WWC prominently. Then again, I was sort of pushing the cause. It was hard to ignore the 80,000 fans in the Meadowlands for the U.S.'s opening match ... AP photographer did a good job with some action shots of both the movement on the pitch and the jam-packed stands. Besides ... it was much better to play and appealed to a wider readership than the 15-20 parents who cared about a particular youth baseball team.
     
  3. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    The 1999 WC tickets were not given out for free. My gosh, this is FIFA we are talking about. It doesn't give anything away for free.

    Is it really that difficult to believe people paid to attend? The US team played before a capacity crowd in the 96 Olympics. The players were great at PR. They played an attractive style of soccer. They were winning and everybody loves a winner.
     
  4. CarltonBanks

    CarltonBanks New Member

    You don't have to believe me...but I was told a significant number of "promotional" tickets were given out for most of the games. Did a lot of people pay to attend? Yes, did all of them? Heck no. Did more than half of them? Slightly.
     
  5. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Here's my 1999 Women's WC story and it would out me to anyone from my old paper, but so be it.

    I covered the Women's Soccer Gold Medal Game in Athens, Ga. in 1996. Why did I get to cover it? Nobody else wanted to.

    In 1999 there was a question as to what, if anything, of the Women's WC that we would cover. When we decided to cover the US games, it was a question as who we would send.

    None of our columnists wanted to go. They were going to send a female writer, but she didn't want to go either. I was lobbying to go and eventually, they decided on me, by default.

    I covered it through the semis. After they made the finals, my SE called me and said, "You've done a great job, but you're going to be pissed..."

    They pulled me from the final to send a female writer. The writer was much higher than I was on the food chain, but she was the same one who had all but refused to cover the WC when it was an issue. I'll be perfectly honest, I don't think we would have covered it (at least not the early rounds) if I wasn't lobbying to do so. I was pissed. I got over it when my boss let me stay in California an extra week before coming home.

    I don't remember if the games were sold out, but there were a ton of people there.
     
  6. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    For the games that did not involve the US, I probably would believe that.
     
  7. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    There were some freebies - not half the seats - in the group stage for non-US matches. But that has zero to do with the 99 team's popularity.
     
  8. sportsguydave

    sportsguydave Active Member

    Mizzou and Sam pretty much nailed it: It was a winning team, a likable team, an accessible team, lightning in a bottle, all of that. The dramatic flair of the way the title game was won was just the icing on the cake.

    I was really hoping this year's team would win so they would be able to step out of the 99 team's long shadow, but they just couldn't get it done. This year's team liked to live on the edge too much, it seems, and you can only go to that well so many times before it's dry.

    As for the lame "nobody gives a rat's ass about soccer" argument, try selling that tired old saw in the Northwest, where they are selling out stadiums - albeit smaller ones, for sure - for MLS games, and they even dumped baseball to convert a stadium to soccer-only. Don't have any numbers at the ready, but I would be willing to bet soccer is outdrawing baseball in some places.
     
  9. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    most of y'all are being WAAAAY too p.c. over this. it was part 'perfect storm' of girls/women's soccer taking off for young girls in rec leagues all over the country, more folks than ever here paying any mind to women's soccer on the h.s./college level, they were exceptionally skilled/cohesive and YES, MOST IMPORTANTLY, SEVERAL OF THEIR STAR PLAYERS WERE EYE CANDY AND PREDOMINANTLY CAUCASIAN.

    Y'all truly believe a homely squad made up of minorities catches the same lightning in a bottle? attention from madison avenue, etc.? ???

    i know we're all eager to declare women's sports have come a long way, baby -- and they certainly have -- but not nearly as far as p.c.nation likes to think. every few years, folks pay attention if USA is getting somewhere in world cup play, but when the tournament's over, where does everyone go? no pro leagues are relevant. no college teams have developed any sort of national fan base like the men's sports have.

    even if the women hadn't choked yesterday, come tomorrow, where would the state of women's soccer be overall in this country? in the same niche it occupies now. it's stuck in the mud. i truly don't see where the growth is coming from at the moment.

    am i wrong? if so, i'd love to hear why.
     
  10. Cubbiebum

    Cubbiebum Member

    The men always have an American coach. Hasn't really worked all too well for them.

    It's not our sport and people from other countries know a lot more. That's not to say an American doesn't exist who would be great but you have a hell of lot more options overseas.

    If American football somehow created a worldwide tournament would you expect other countries to hire coaches from their own country or from the U.S. where there is a plethora of coaches who really know their stuff? It's not a perfect analogy but it's pretty close.

    I wish the idiots who run the men's team would swallow their egos and pay the effing money to get a great coach. Bradley is mediocre at best. Arena was good in the beginning but is the type of coach who will rally the team for awhile but eventually start falling on deaf ears because he is an egomaniac. Sampson ... well he was horrible.
     
  11. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    Attendance at 1999 U.S. matches:
    78,972 (Meadowlands)
    65,080 (Chicago)
    50,484 (Foxborough)
    54,642 (Landover)
    73,123 (Palo Alto)
    90,185 (Pasadena)

    The other games were alright, but looked more empty because they were played in big stadiums.
     
  12. Kermit McManus

    Kermit McManus New Member

    Becuase it was one of those times we see magic of sport.

    And it inspired lot's of young ladies to look into soccer.

    For teenage boy like Kermit at time, it was coming of age Moment.
     
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