PRESS OFFICER AARON HEIFETZ: Here in the Blue Room of the Supper Club in Times Square of New York City, we have the President of Women’s World Cup ’99, Marla Messing. We have from the U.S. women’s national team, defender Brandi Chastain, a member of our Olympic gold medalists and midfielder and sometimes forward. We have Kristine Lilly the world’s most capped soccer player with 171 games for the United States. We have the co-captain of the United States, Julie Foudy. And we have a star midfielder of the Mexican national team, Laurie Hill, who herself was a three-time all-American at the University of California at Santa Barbara. We have a local girl from Point Pleasant, New Jersey, Christie Pearce, a defender on the national team. We are hoped to be joined by Leonardo Cuellar, coach of the Mexican national team. However, he is still under the swarms of media downstairs. We’re going to begin with the president of the Women’s World Cup Marla Messing, and she will explain to you what went on at our event here at the Supper Club this afternoon. Marla? MARLA MESSING: Good afternoon, everybody. We had three major announcements today from the Supper Club. The first was that we unveiled the newly designed FIFA Women’s World Cup trophy. Second we also unveiled the official song of the tournament, which is being sung by a British pop sensation named Billie, and the song is called “Because We Want To.” And then third, with exactly two months to go before the tournament, today we have launched the final phase of our ticket selling efforts, single ticket sales. And in contrast to what we’ve been doing over the course of the last 12 months where our ticket selling initiatives were really grassroots marketing initiatives, we have now begun to see some Women’s World Cup promotion in major media outlets: Print, radio, television, as well as some awareness generating by many of the members of our commercial affiliate families, including companies like MasterCard, Bud Light, Adidas, Allstate, Time, Inc. and others. So those were the three initiatives that we had here this afternoon. I think it was an electric atmosphere, and I’ll turn it back to Aaron. AARON HEIFETZ: Thank you. At this time we’ll take questions for Marla or any of the U.S. players in attendance. Once again, it’s a Kristine Lilly, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain, and Christie Pearce from the United States and Laurie Hill for Mexico. Q: Thank you very much. Glad to have the information sent to us, and I’m glad to have a chance to take a part in this since like many of us, we can’t all be in New York. This is probably for Kristine, but anybody else who wants to take a crack at it. You all have two games coming up later this week against China. And the Chinese are looking kind of tough and you all are having trouble scoring. And I just am curious, as I think many others are, what’s going on on the offensive front? What does it look like to those of you who have to get it done? KRISTINE LILLY: Well, actually we recently just lost to China at the Algarve Cup. And what we started to realize at the international level is that, you know, missed chances are vital. Obviously we had a lot of chances in the Algarve Cup. We spent the whole second half in China’s 18 yard box and we couldn’t finish; so that’s very important. I don’t think we’re in a slump. I don’t think, you know, there’s anything wrong with the attack that’s going on with us. What we’re learning is we have to finish those little chances, and that’s very important… In the last couple of months we’ve been training in Florida, finishing has been part of it. And, you know, it’s coming along. There’s nothing wrong with our attack. There’s nothing wrong with the way our team is playing. But we learned that finishing those easy chances that we may be missing is very important. And to play China this weekend is tremendous for us. They are a great team. They are a team that plays as close to the style that we play; so we look forward to playing like that. You know, when the chances come, we’re going to see what happens, and I think we’ll be ready and we’ll be focused to finish those chances, and we know how important it is to not make mistakes. But also on the defensive end, but also on the attacking end, you have to finish those chances; and that’s what we plan to do. Q: This question is for Marla. Can you detail a little bit the advertising campaign for the single-game tickets? MARLA MESSING: Sure. What you’re going to see initially is a lot of print advertising in major dailies, in the markets in which the Women’s World Cup is going to take place, and you’ll see that over the course of the next week and a half or two weeks. Then you’ll see a lot of national television advertising from some of our sponsors as we get into May, and then starting in mid-May, print, radio and local television in each of our markets will really start to pick up. And the last week to two weeks in May and right into the first two, three weeks in June will be when the real advertising push will kick in. Q: This is a question for any of the U.S. players, really. Can you compare the residency camp atmosphere to ’96? Is everything as good or some things better as far as housing atmosphere, camaraderie things like that? JULIE FOUDY: The golf has been much better. My game is still in the traps. (Laughter) But I’ve been playing more golf, and that’s a bonus. No, it’s actually been fantastic. We’ve been living in very nice apartments and houses and the team — that was set up for the team when we got down there. We’re training at a facility that is first class. We have weight room, training room, locker room, showers, everything right there at one site with four beautiful fields surrounding it; so, it’s very convenient for us. And we’ve had a good combination of staying at the training center where it’s nice because it’s a bit isolated and you can focus on the training aspect of soccer, which is always important. And then a good combination of travel, as well. Hitting a lot of different markets. So, the residency has been going very well. Q: Would you say it’s going better than last time? JULIE FOUDY: Yeah, I would say so. I think, you know, we’re very comfortable with that area of Florida, in Orlando. It’s where we were for the Olympics; and so, I think it’s been going very well. Q: I had a question for Leo as well. How is training or the preparation going for the Women’s World Cup so far? LEONARDO CUELLAR: It’s coming along. We started our preparation about five weeks ago in California. The ladies have a week off, but today we start our second phase of preparation in Mexico City. And it’s coming — it’s coming very well. We are very excited and we are very eager to participate in this World Cup. Q: Do the losses and the ties with the college teams, do those concern you? LEONARDO CUELLAR: No. We have to take in consideration where we stand at this moment. And every game we get something positive, and every game we discover areas that we have to improve. And also, the players are getting more and more familiar with the teams that we try to put together, and our test is going to be in the World Cup. Q: I have a couple of questions as well for Marla and the second one for Leo Cuellar. Marla, can you give us an update how the tickets are going for the Massachusetts doubleheader where U.S. plays, and also Mexico? MARLA MESSING: Let me give you that update. What I told the media here in New York today is that our top three selling events are the opening doubleheader on June 19th at Giants Stadium where we sold about 45,000 tickets. The June 24th doubleheader in Chicago, which features Brazil versus Italy and the U.S. versus Nigeria we’ve sold about 45,000 tickets. And then for the Women’s World Cup Final in Los Angeles, we’ve sold between 33- and 34,000 tickets. Those are our top-selling events. But I think the most remarkable thing is that we are currently averaging for nine first-round doubleheaders over 14,000 tickets per event. Q: And now this question for Leo. When will you make up the final cast for your roster? LEONARDO CUELLAR: We don’t have any specific dates. We don’t have the depth that other countries have; so, we’re still even searching for new players. We still haven’t opened as positively — discovered somebody new in Mexico. But obviously, the sooner, the better, so the players can be more relaxed and concentrate in their preparation. But I haven’t established any specific date at this moment. Q: Question for Laurie Hill. Laurie, I asked Leo about the games with the Southern California college teams, and I wanted to get your take on how the losses and ties to those teams, do those concern you, given that you are a full national team and maybe you should be beating these teams? LAURIE HILL: Well, the first couple games we had just been in camp a few days, a week, and then we just played UCLA about a week ago and we beat them 3-0. And from that game, I finally noticed that we were getting some team chemistry. We were having awesome combinations amongst the players; and so, I think we’re starting to really come together as a team. And so, I only look forward to, you know, more training. We’re leaving for Mexico tomorrow, and I think we’re just going to get better and better. And like Leo mentioned, the test will be in the World Cup and not before then. Q: I’d like to ask this question to Laurie. Two questions. First, Laurie, how different is the Mexican team now as opposed to a month ago in terms of as you mentioned team chemistry, players working together, all this sort of thing. And secondly, have you had a chance to see the condition of women’s soccer in Mexico firsthand, and what kind of impressions do you have? LAURIE HILL: Okay. We’ve only been training for about five weeks now together. And before that, we qualified in December; so, we’ve been off since then. The change from now and the past five weeks was — I mean, it’s been tremendous, in my eyes, because like I said, we’re really coming together as a team. And the players are getting to know each other, both on the field and off the field. So I think we’re really unifying and coming together. With regards to firsthand knowledge of Mexican players in Mexico, I really don’t have that knowledge. I’ve been to Mexico a few times, several times. But I haven’t really been to any matches there. Andrea, she coaches the University team and she runs the soccer camp there; so she has more knowledge than I do. ANDREA RODEBAUGH: I think that the acceptance and the women’s soccer in Mexico is growing a lot. There’s girls playing in junior high school and high schools and now at the university level. All universities have teams, as well as the outdoor leagues which are just club teams that have existed since around 1971. But the support is what is new, basically. . And I think that has been very important in the success of the program. And now with more support, I do think that more of the Mexican players will be there. Q: This is for Brandi and probably Julie. I’m looking at the media guide. Just happened to be leafing through here, Brandi. And there’s a picture here of you in 1991 in China, and I wanted both of you to address, I guess the upcoming or the rivalry with China. China was fifth and then they were fourth; second in the Olympics, beat you all in the Algarve Cup. You now have these couple of games coming up, and, of course, they are one of the seeds in this tournament coming up. How do you all view the Chinese? And how have they improved? And what are you all thinking about this club? BRANDI CHASTAIN: I think — my first impression when I see China is that they are extremely technical. They are very quick; fast. They are the pit bulls, I think, out there. They never give up. I think they pose the greatest problems to our team, and they always have. I don’t know if I — I don’t think they have changed their style since we first played them back in ’91 in the first World Cup. They have just improved upon what they already had. Like Kristine said, they are definitely a team that when you play, you can’t have any mistakes or it will cost you. And I look forward to the next two games in Hershey, Pennsylvania and back here at Giants Stadium on this Sunday. It will give us a chance again to test ourselves as a team and as individuals, because we know that they are definitely a team to beat in this World Cup. Q: Marla, where do ticket sales overall stand at this point? MARLA MESSING: As of today, we put single tickets on sale, we’ve sold over 325,000 tickets to the tournament as a whole. Q: This is for all the U.S. players. When did you all start playing soccer and do you have — what’s your first memory of playing? KRISTINE LILLY: I started with soccer when I was six years old. And I tell everyone this: My first memory of soccer was the oranges at halftime. It wasn’t even playing. I remember being out there and being around kids on the field and running, and then halftime was the time when we all celebrate and ate the oranges. BRANDI CHASTAIN: I’m going to pay tribute to Leo, because the first organized team I played on was the Quakettes after the San Jose Earthquakes, which he played on; so he was a great inspiration to me as a young player. And I think truly one of the reasons that I continue to play soccer — don’t cry, Leo. It’s okay. But that was my first team as — an eight-year-old was the Quakettes. CHRISTIE PEARCE: I started playing which I was five and I just remember the recreation league of just a dirt field and the scrums of all the kids running after the ball is my biggest memory. Q: This is for Andrea Rodebaugh. You mentioned that the support for Mexican women’s soccer is new. How do you see this support being expressed. That’s the first part of the question. And the second part is what obstacles do you have to — what obstacles remain that need to be overcome for women’s soccer to gain and why it is supported in Mexico? ANDREA RODEBAUGH: I say that the support is changed because since people started organizing women Women’s World Cup, for example, the Haiti Qualifying Tournament, which was played at Mexico, sent a team that was thrown together two weeks before the tournament, as was the 1994 team. And so, of course, we were trampled on. And it wasn’t until last year’s qualifying tournament that the Federation decided to support the program one year before the tournament, and started detecting the women’s soccer players. And the support since then has grown incredibly. We were sent to San Diego three or four months before the qualifying tournament and participated in a league as a local team and now we’re actually sent on tours and we’re playing international games before the World Cup. And the obstacles I think are still the same. It’s just that they are slowly beginning to be torn down. Q: You say the obstacles are the same. Can you enumerate some of those? ANDREA RODEBAUGH: Just mentality. The idea that women — that soccer is not a sport for women. Like I said, for example, in universities, the support you see in scholarships that are now available for women which is something that five years ago was unseen. So those attitudes and machisimos, as it’s called, are slowly being eliminated, I guess. AARON HEIFETZ: Once again, single tickets are now on sale. That number is 1-800-WWC-TIKS. We’ll see you at the World Cup. Thanks for joining us.