Getting Their Kicks : Devotees and Novice Soccer Fans Alike Gather to Cheer for U.S. Women
Even guys who live for football--the game with helmets--turned out Saturday to make the U.S. women’s soccer victory over China a national moment, cheering just as loudly for Team USA as did soccer moms, soccer dads and their soccer kids.
“I’ve never been a big soccer fan, but this was exciting,” Scott Tanck said after the United States won 5-4 in a penalty-kick shootout.
Tanck was one of about 75 people gathered at Cronies Sports Grill in Ventura to root for America’s team.
Sure, the finals of the 1999 Women’s World Cup exemplified much of what those who pooh-pooh soccer dislike about the sport--China and the United States kicked the ball for two hours before a single goal was scored.
But hard-core fans said the contest for soccer’s big prize also exemplified all that is great about the sport.
“This is the beauty of soccer,” said Peter Berson, a youth-soccer referee. “No scoring and an exciting game--so much tension.”
Though the walls of Cronies are covered with photos, jerseys and autographs honoring mostly football, car racing and baseball, nearly all of the restaurant’s eight televisions--including its two big screens--were tuned to the World Cup. Roller derby was on mute on a smaller TV, its blonds on blades mostly ignored.
At the Treehouse Sports Bar and Grill in Simi Valley, the TV-to-spectator ratio was almost 1-to-1, with all 49 screens tuned to the big game. That’s an honor normally reserved for the Super Bowl or a Mike Tyson fight, owner John Vanderwal said.
“A lot of the people weren’t aware that we won the [Women’s] World Cup in 1991,” Vanderwal said. “It’s weird that all of a sudden soccer is starting to catch on with girls.”
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And at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, 90,185 fans--including President Clinton and more than a few folks from Ventura County--set an attendance record for a women’s sporting event. Elsewhere in the world, millions more were expected to watch the game on television.
For many spectators, Saturday’s final--or the Brazil-Norway consolation match just before it--may have been the first soccer game they had watched. At Cronies, at least one man needed an explanation when a Chinese player was penalized with a yellow card.
But Berson’s son, Matt, a 12-year-old soccer player, predicted that the success of the U.S. women’s team will help the sport tremendously.
“It will get more girls interested, and fans will pay more attention to soccer,” said Matt, who has decorated his bedroom with soccer jerseys and a Brazilian flag.
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Despite the scoreless play that lasted until the game’s final minutes, the crowd washing down buffalo wings with sodas and “schooners” of beer at Cronies tensed up, as though it were a high-scorer.
There was nothing but love for the U.S. women, whose run through the World Cup tournament captured attention never before seen in women’s team sports and seen only rarely in men’s.
The athleticism of players such as Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and game-winner Brandi Chastain is not the team’s only attraction, said Michelle Ahner, whose boyfriend was much more interested in women’s soccer than men’s.
That’s because the players are “like any guy’s dream,” Ahner said, “pretty and athletic at the same time.”
Indeed Becky Bailey, who accompanied a team of 14- to 16-year-old girls to the Rose Bowl on Saturday, said the girls admire the U.S. women’s team for their balance of ball-handling and beauty.
“They’re healthy, good-looking All-American girls who are also known for their athleticism,” Bailey said. “They’re kind of both sides of the coin.”
With the astounding popularity of this year’s Women’s World Cup, male athletes are no longer the only role models in sports, Peter Berson said.
“This World Cup,” he said, “has given girls throughout the country--and women throughout the country--women to emulate.”
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It all came down to a penalty-kick shootout. A1
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