Joy Runneth Over for Those in Charge

World Cup organizers simply hoped for a good game Saturday--but they were obviously delighted that the U.S. team won.

“It’s better,” Marla Messing, president and chief executive of the Women’s World Cup ’99 organizing committee, said of the Americans’ triumph. “It was important to have a good game to entertain 90,000 people. It would have been OK if the U.S. didn’t win, but for all those kids out there watching, it’s great they have these champions as role models.”

Messing, who was sopping wet after being subjected to a postgame champagne shower, said she had a premonition the tournament might follow the course it did and end in penalty kicks, duplicating the 1994 men’s World Cup final at the Rose Bowl between Brazil and Italy.

“I was talking early in the week. There were so many similarities to the ’94 World Cup, right down to the USA-Brazil game,” she said, referring to the men’s second-round loss to Brazil in 1994 and the women’s semifinal triumph over Brazil last week. “My concern was the final game would not pay off. But this was so different from the 0-0 game played in ’94. Italy-Brazil was tedious, laborious. This was one of the most exciting 0-0 games I’ve seen in my entire life.”

Messing, who vowed to sleep in today--”something I haven’t done in several years,”--also said she had mixed feelings about penalty kicks settling the game. However, her feelings about the winner was clear.

“In a perfect world, it would have been a 92nd-minute goal,” she said. “I’m just so proud, so happy. I really believe this team has shouldered so much of the burden of this sport.”

*

The visit of President Clinton and his family created extra headaches for organizers.

They arrived at 6:30 a.m. to set up the press box only to be tossed out a short time later so the Secret Service could do a security sweep of the area, complete with bomb-sniffing dogs.

Not only was everyone cleared out, so was everything: coffee urns provided to keep early risers awake were also removed so security personnel could be sure nothing had been tampered with.

*

The U.S. team will appear at a rally today at the Convention Center, and the public is invited. It will take place at 2 p.m. at 11th and Georgia streets. Parking is available in the Convention Center lot for $7.

*

The unofficial attendance figure for the tournament was 658,167, including the crowd of 90,185 Saturday that was the largest ever to attend a women’s sporting event.