A League of Their Own
Brandi Chastain breaks a sweat just talking about the new women’s soccer league--which means somebody could lose a shirt.
Chastain has gone from the centerpiece of the World Cup celebration two years ago to one of the pillars of the Women’s United Soccer Association.
From Day 1, the pro league will be the best of its kind in the world, and the star defender is determined to make sure it’s a smash with fans.
And what a beginning it should be. Chastain’s Bay Area CyberRays will play Mia Hamm’s Washington Freedom at RFK Stadium in the opener in two weeks.
“It’s our intent to have the best product on the first day, on April 14, and that everybody walks away and goes, ‘God, that was incredible,”’ Chastain said during WUSA’s spring training at the ARCO Olympic Training Center in this San Diego suburb.
“And then the next time they come, go, ‘Oh, my gosh, how did it even get better?’ And then the next time, ‘This is unreal.’ ”
It could happen.
The women figure it’s about time they got a league of their own, and WUSA hopes to rekindle on a smaller scale the frenzy of the United States’ World Cup run in 1999.
Chastain made it even more memorable when she whipped off her shirt in celebration after her penalty kick beat the Chinese in the final at the Rose Bowl.
WUSA will feature nearly every member of that World Cup team, including Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, Carla Overbeck and Brianna Scurry.
But this time, they’ll be scattered among the Freedom, CyberRays, Atlanta Beat, Boston Breakers, Carolina Courage, New York Power, Philadelphia Charge and San Diego Spirit.
WUSA’s rosters also feature top Chinese players and four Brazilians who, like their male counterparts, go by just one name: Katia, Sissi, Pretinha and Roseli.
Another world power, Norway, is represented by Dagny Mellgren, who stunned the Americans with the winning overtime goal in the gold-medal game at the Sydney Olympics.
And there will be the familiar sights and sounds in the stands of screaming adolescent girls, their faces painted and ribbons in their hair.
Failing to repeat as Olympic gold medalists did little to stop the World Cup momentum, said Tony DiCicco, WUSA’s chief operations officer who coached the Americans to the world title.
“It’s not like we’re coming for the first time onto people’s radar,” DiCicco said. “I don’t think anybody left Sydney feeling like the USA wasn’t probably still the best team in the world.”
This will be the first time the American stars have competed against each other after playing together on the national team. But they have sparred countless times in practice.
“When those players get on the field and they’re wearing a different color than me, I don’t see their face,” she said. “I just know that they’re trying to beat my team.
“After the game we’re going to hug, and we’re probably going to have dinner together and we’re going to laugh about, ‘Can you believe we just had the first game of women’s professional soccer in the United States?’ And how great it will be.”
WUSA comes along five years after the debut of Major League Soccer. Although the men’s league has lost some $250 million, Chastain said it’s important both leagues do well.
Chastain remembers exactly where she was sitting when Eric Wynalda scored the first goal in MLS history on April 6, 1996, when San Jose beat DC United.
“I will never forget that game,” she said. “I want something like that for the fans and I want something like that for the players. And if it means somebody has to take their shirt off, then so be it.”
Funny, but Wynalda ripped off his shirt and slid on the ground in celebration while pumping his fists in the air.
The WUSA will play mostly in cozy stadiums on college campuses. DiCicco said the league hopes to recreate the flavor and spectacle of the beach volleyball stadium at Bondi Beach that was one of the most popular places to be during the Sydney Games.
“What we’re going to be able to create for them is very exciting, festive stadiums that are going to have an energy, have an aura,” DiCicco said. “Is it going to be 90,000 at the Rose Bowl excitement? No. But it’s going to be neat. It’s going to be a great little environment.”
The target audience includes boys and girls and their money-spending suburban soccer parents.
“We hope there’s a ripple effect out from there,” DiCicco said.
Chastain said it’s inevitable the league will hit a few bumps along the way.
“Every day we get closer, I feel my energy level and my enthusiasm lifting and increasing to almost like World Cup potential,” she said. “People will be waiting to criticize and to say, ‘Oh, it wasn’t good enough,’ and we want to show them that it is good enough.”
