US womens soccer
US womens soccer,The United States women's national soccer team, often referred to as USWNT, represents the United States in international soccer competition and is controlled by U.S. Soccer. The U.S. team won the first ever Women's World Cup in 1991, and has since been a superpower in women's soccer. It is currently ranked first in the world by the FIFA Women's World Rankings.[1] The team has also won the 1999 Women's World Cup, three Olympic Women's Gold Medals (1996, 2004 and 2008) and eight Algarve Cups (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011).
Among its many other honors, the team was selected the U.S. Olympic Committee's Team of the Year in 1997 and 1999. Sports Illustrated chose the entire team as its 1999 Sportspeople of the Year.
History
The team played its first match at the Mundialito tournament on August 18, 1985, coached by Mike Ryan (not related to 2005–2007 coach Greg Ryan). In March 2004, two of its stars, Mia Hamm (who retired later that year after a post-Olympic team tour of the USA) and Michelle Akers (who had already retired), were the only two women and the only two Americans named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living soccer players chosen by Pelé as part of FIFA's centenary observances.
Arguably their most influential and memorable victory came in the 1999 World Cup when they beat China 5–4 in a penalty shootout. With this win they emerged onto the world stage and brought significant media attention to women's soccer and athletics. On July 10, 1999, over 90,000 people (the largest ever for a women’s sporting event and one of the largest attendances in the world for a tournament game final) filled the Rose Bowl to watch the United States play China in the Final. After a back and forth game, the score was tied 0–0 at full time, and remained so after extra time, leading to a penalty kick shootout. With Briana Scurry's save of China's third kick, the score was 4–4 with only Brandi Chastain left to shoot. She scored and won the game for the United States. Chastain famously dropped to her knees and whipped off her shirt, celebrating in her sports bra, which later made the cover of Sports Illustrated and the front pages of newspapers around the country and world.
Perhaps the second most influential victory came on July 10, 2011, in the quarterfinal of the 2011 Women's World Cup in Germany, where the US beat Brazil 5–3 on penalty kicks. Abby Wambach tied the game 2–2 in the 2nd minute of extra time in the 2nd period of overtime (the 122nd minute of the match overall) with a left-footed cross by Megan Rapinoe. Earlier in the game, Brazil had evened the score 1–1 on a controversial penalty kick. Interestingly, the game was played on the 12th anniversary of the memorable 1999 World Cup Final (described above), which the US also won on penalty kicks.
source: wikipedia
