The U.S. women’s soccer team was already down a goal early in its World Cup match last Thursday when two U.S. defenders collided in front of their net. A Nigerian opponent got the ball, drew goalie Briana Scurry out of the net, and passed wide to a teammate for an open shot. Where I was sitting, high behind the goal in the north end-zone seats at Soldier Field, I thought the Nigerian had scored, but she’d actually pushed the ball into the side of the net. Still, the U.S. team, playing before the largest crowd ever to see a soccer match in Chicago–65,080, more than for any of the games in the 1994 men’s World Cup tournament here–looked awful. They appeared headed for a stunning upset in what was supposed to be the home-country glory tour for the World Cup favorites.
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How would they respond to things not breaking their way? Beginning with solid, fundamental play and a ball-control offense that mixed long passes down the wings with precise give-and-go plays in the middle, they put together the most sustained and exciting sequence of soccer I have ever seen. Star Mia Hamm, whose every free kick set off a flurry of flashbulbs like a Michael Jordan free throw, kicked one in from the left side that was ruled a deflection off a Nigerian defender, tying the score. Then she scored again on a goal that was fully earned. After the U.S. team had run several plays down the middle, Hamm took a long pass on the right wing. She got the ball wide of the defense and, one-on-one with the Nigerian goalie, smashed the ball high into the right-hand corner, an unstoppable shot, for her record 111th goal in international competition. She celebrated by sliding on her knees, arms flung upward, into the welcoming U.S. bench. Moments later Tiffeny Milbrett scored on a high-pressure flurry in front of the Nigerian net. Michelle Akers, the senior player on the team at age 33, celebrated in childlike fashion by diving face first into the sod right at the feet of Brandi Chastain, who looked down at her as if to say, “Why not?” and then did a theatrical little flop of her own. That made it 3-1 U.S., and in the sedate, soporific world of soccer, where one or two goals are usually enough to win a game, it was the equivalent of a fireworks display. Milbrett herself would later call this “the most exciting game we’ve ever played.”
There’s no denying the sheer impact of the U.S. women’s soccer team drawing 65,000 fans to a game (this on a night the White Sox barely drew 13,000 just down Lake Shore Drive and inland at the new Comiskey Park). It was a completely different crowd from the relatively small cadre of several thousand who attended the U.S. women’s “friendly” exhibition match at Soldier Field last summer. The players were greeted with huge cheers, both for the pregame practice session and when they marched on field for the game proper. To be sure, many of the fans were girls, young women, and soccer moms–the seats just to my left and in the next row down were occupied by a couple sisters and their daughters, and during halftime the moms discussed how they were going to try to get Springsteen tickets that weekend–but it wasn’t exclusively the minivan set other columnists have described. Two women sitting behind me were serious soccer fans–and one was a serious singer, doing a proud and marvelous rendition of the national anthem before turning to her friend and saying, “Let’s get some runs!”–and there were a couple guys who were soccer aficionados just down the aisle to the left; they were full of scouting reports about the first game of the World Cup doubleheader, won by Brazil 2-0 over Italy.
The second half was really just a lovefest, as the U.S. played a precise ball-control game without going into a stall. As the sun set, a hazy, roseate glow settled over the high-rise to the south. Down under the stands, the passageways were packed and there were long lines for everything. “They totally underestimated this,” said one of the soccer moms. “Every U.S. soccer shirt is gone. And the food line is worse than any Bear game I’ve ever been at.” Yet a few minutes later she was settled in with her youngest daughter, pointing out the rising half-moon. Hamm left the game early to a huge ovation after getting knocked around a bit by the Nigerians. Akers didn’t play at all in the second half, having stayed in the locker room at intermission for some extra treatment on a sore leg. When she finally emerged and walked the edge of the field to the U.S. bench with a slight limp, fans cheered her at every section all the way around.
