When it came to enthusiasm, it was hard to tell the players from their young fans at the WUSA opener.
Just before women’s professional soccer kicked off for the first time in the United States, players from the 1999 U.S. Women’s World Cup team gathered in the lobby of RFK Stadium’s press box. In the interest of privacy, they filed quietly down a hallway past the Washington Freedom offices to a secluded freight elevator.
As soon as the founding members of the Women’s United Soccer Association were out of the public eye, their emotions bubbled to the surface.
They giggled, hugged, horsed around and posed for pictures, giddy with anticipation.
This energy continued all the way down to the field side, where they waited to participate in the opening ceremonies for the inaugural game.
“How cool is this?! How cool is this?!” exclaimed Tiffeny Milbrett, beaming as fans – who would number 34,148 – trickled into their seats.
“This is unbelievable,” said Lorrie Fair. “It’s so weird to see the same environment as the World Cup, but it’s not national teams warming up.”
The most sedate one of the crew was probably its eldest, Michelle Akers, who gazed across the sun-soaked, seamless green turf with her right arm in a sling. Three weeks from having her fourth shoulder surgery, Akers, 35, did not know if she would ever get to play in this breakthrough league. But there was no tinge of bitterness from that fact – only pride.
“I’m to the point now where I’m just excited that we’re here and it’s happening,” she said. “All the hard work and pain and guts paid off … whether I play or not, I’m content with that. I just think that some things are destined to be and all the details fell together perfectly for the kickoff of this league – an awesome crowd, a perfect day, a beautiful field – and we’re all here to enjoy it.”
So while her former teammates bounced and cavorted around in front of Julie Foudy’s video camera, Akers simply stood and savored.
“I kind of have this sort of calm sense of satisfaction,” she said. “This is what I saw, years ago, this is what we dreamed of.”
CAUTIOUS FIRST STEPS. After the rousing opening ceremonies included fireworks, three female parachutists, tennis great Billy Jean King and a bald eagle swooping in during the national anthem, the game itself was perhaps an inevitably lower plateau of energy. But several factors, all related to the newness of the league, conspired to create a surprisingly quiet first half.
Problems with ticket distribution caused many fans to miss varying degrees of the action while waiting in lines outside. Around 7,000 fans bought tickets on game day and about 11,000 more purchased their tickets via phone during the week and therefore had to pick them up at will call.
With a large portion of fans new to big events at RFK Stadium and unaware of the importance of arriving early, throngs of people converged on the ticket windows in the final hour before kickoff. Some disgruntled fans missed the entire first half.
“It’s the first day of a new league and there was just an enormous demand,” said investor John Hendricks, chairman of the league’s board of governors. “We’ll get this worked out. Certainly, to the people that were disappointed that they missed some of the action, we’re going to have them call the WUSA office and we’re finding a way to make that up to them …”
Play on the field, meanwhile, was disjointed – rife with turnovers and short on scoring chances. Both teams appeared unaccustomed to the width of the field and little action occurred within 10 yards of the touchlines. Mia Hamm, the hometown heroine, played on the right flank and tried to stretch wide, but her teammates could not switch the ball to her quickly enough.
A hopeful cheer went up each time Hamm touched the ball, but the Bay Area CyberRays swiftly shifted their nearest troops to close down her options.
Lack of familiarity with teammates and inaugural game nerves were factors, according to Freedom coach Jim Gabarra.
“I would have liked to have seen more goals,” Gabarra said. “But I think you see that in a big game, whether it’s a World Cup final or an inaugural game. Players are really focused on not making a mistake and that hinders attacking play.”
The placid atmosphere highlighted the fact that the fledgling team has not yet established any trademark chants and cheers.
The volume and pace of play picked up in the second half, with the CyberRays generating the majority of opportunities, but Freedom goalkeeper Siri Mullinix repeatedly denied them.
In the 68th minute, Hamm fell over Brandi Chastain’s outstretched leg and Pretinha converted the ensuing penalty kick for the game’s only goal.
The dreaded scoreless draw was averted and the home crowd got to celebrate.
CHANGING CULTURE. Afterward, Chastain put her competitive chagrin aside and deflected multiple questions about the penalty kick before refocusing the media on the significance of the game.
“[The loss] doesn’t diminish the fact that we are a part of history and we’ve changed American culture for young girls,” Chastain said. “People asked me this week, ‘what would make this league a success?’ and I said, ‘We’ve already been successful. We started a league.'”
Hamm credited the pioneers of women’s soccer:
“To have April Heinrichs in the stands and Carin Jennings-Gabarra and Michelle Akers … I’m just sorry that they don’t have the opportunity to play in this league because without the players who set that standard, we wouldn’t be here.”
Outside the stadium, hordes of girls swarmed around the doors where they expected players to exit. Eager for autographs, they interrogated every person who came through while their emotions bubbled to the surface.
They giggled, hugged, horsed around and posed for pictures, giddy with anticipation.
“This is awesome,” said Eleni Katsiotis, 12, wearing face paint and mini U.S. flags in her hair. “I love to watch soccer. They are our role models. We want to be like them.”
Had she seen her idols before the game, Katsiotis would know just how close they were.
by Soccer America associate editor Will Kuhns