Tenth anniversary of USA’s 1999 Women’s World Cup title not much of a party

It was billed as a party to celebrate the WNT’s accomplishments ten years ago, when the United States defeated China in a penalty kick shootout at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The game, played in front of a crowd of 90,185, remains the best-attended women’s sporting event in history and raised the profile of women’s soccer globally for years to come.

The first-place Los Angeles Sol recognized Mia Hamm and Joy Fawcett, two members of the U.S. Team that captured the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Championship, on Sunday, June 21, at The Home Depot Center when they played FC Gold Pride (Bay Area).

Hamm and Fawcett were honored in a subdued halftime ceremony.  Two Gold Pride players were also members of the 1999 U.S. team, Brandi Chastain and Tiffeny Milbrett, but only Milbrett showed up to play.

There were colorful signs in the stands and plenty of fans ready to relive the glory days of the 1999 championship but the opportunity came and went without the party ever taking off.

All seven Women’s Professional Soccer franchises will feature a 10th Anniversary Tribute Day at one of their home games this summer.  In addition to Hamm and  Fawcett, Lorrie Fair, Tiffany Roberts, Tisha Venturini, Danielle Fotopolous and others on the gold-medal winning side will be recognized at venues throughout the league.

Hope some of those celebrations are more fun than the one at the Home Depot Center.  Fortunately the Sol won Sunday’s game with a couple of dramatic goals in the first half so the day still ended on a positive note.

With the victory, the Sol remains comfortably atop the WPS standings with an 8-1-4 record (28 points), while FC Gold Pride falls to 3-6-3 (12 pts.).  Sol goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc made three saves to register her WPS-leading ninth shutout, while midfielder Camile Abily notched her league-best seventh goal of the season.