Today marks 25 years since player’s spontaneous moment of jubilation – this is why that iconic image is so significant
Franco Baresi, Daniele Massaro and Roberto Baggio all wish they could have scored in a World Cup final penalty shoot-out at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl. Baggio, the Divine Ponytail, in particular, knows what it is like to miss the decisive kick in front of a 90,000-strong crowd. In 1994, after blazing Italy’s fifth penalty into orbit, his shoulders slumped, his sternum deflated, his chin burrowed into his collarbone and his hands took refuge on his hips to create a perfect tableau of despondency.
Contrast that with the scene five years later on the same field. Twenty-five years ago to the day, July 10, 1999, Brandi Chastain, the United States left-back, walked forward from the centre circle for the 10th kick of the shoot-out against China with the score at 4-4 after Briana Scurry had saved Liu Ying’s penalty. Eight years earlier she had been an unused substitute when the USWNT beat China in the inaugural Women’s World Cup final in Guangzhou. Chastain had been a forward back then but had to adapt to secure a regular place after four years in the international wilderness until a triumphant, gold medal-winning return at the Atlanta Olympics when her versatility and resilience became virtues first in midfield and finally with a settled spot at full-back.
In the 3-2 quarter-final victory over Germany, Chastain had scored an own goal and then an equaliser. She had always taken penalties and in the final expected to be among the five selected after a goalless 120 minutes in the Californian furnace. But four months earlier, in the final of the Algarve Cup, she had done ‘a Baggio’ from the spot and China had gone on to win the warm-up tournament. So Lauren Gregg, the assistant coach, put her down for No 6, or the first should sudden death be needed.
In the centre-circle the coach, Tony DiCicco, bumped her back up to fifth yet insisted that she take it with her left foot. Yes, she was the sole genuinely two-footed player in the side but had a slight bias to her right and had always struck penalties with it. In practice, though, DiCicco had noticed that her left-footers were better disguised. In the 1986 men’s World Cup, West Germany’s Andreas Brehme converted from 12 yards with his left foot and four years later in the final with his right. Chastain was following the road less travelled.
Back in March of that year in Portugal, China’s goalkeeper Gao Hong had almost gone nose to nose with her before she placed the ball, trying to psych her out at the penalty spot. This time Chastain kept her gaze down until she had placed the ball and Gao had been dispatched to her line. Her only plan was to hit it as hard as she could with her instep to “the natural side”, her right.
When you go all @brandichastain as the clock strikes to start your weekend 🕔👀😁 #FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/PjoNydiQuw
“It was in slow motion,” she said. Her focus silenced the crowd. She struck the ball sweetly but it still seemed to take an age. “I could see the ball not rotating and hitting the back of the net,” she said. “Then you see all the colours.” And she heard an eruption of noise. “You’re giving your celebration and the whole team is on top of you.”
Let’s wind that back a moment. Calling what she did “giving your celebration” is a late contender for understatement of the 20th century, which had only six more months to run. After burying her penalty, in a moment of spontaneous jubilation, Chastain dropped to her knees while whipping off her USA jersey before thrusting it skywards.
Shirt removal had crept into the men’s game halfway through the decade, either as a euphoric act when the player would habitually helicopter it above his head, or to reveal a six-pack or a pointed message emblazoned across their vests. Chastain was the first woman to do so, sinking to the turf in her black sports bra, an image of empowerment and rapture. It offended a few prudes who chose to view it from a coarse angle when there was nothing indecent about it at all.
The 1999 Women’s World Cup was a monumental success. Average attendances had risen from 4,300 in Sweden in 1995 to 37,900 – and more than 40 million watched the final in the US alone. Chastain, already known as ‘Hollywood’ by her team-mates, rose to the great occasion by giving the tournament its defining image. Outside the Olympics, women’s sport on the global stage was confined broadly to individuals. Iconic is almost an exhausted adjective in sport these days but here it is justified: the US’s victory and Chastain’s encapsulation of what it meant is the breakthrough moment for women’s team sport from which everything we value today – including Chloe Kelly’s recreation at the 2022 Euros – flows. And that is a silver anniversary worth celebrating.
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