Mia Hamm by Matt Christopher

Author:Matt Christopher [CHRISTOPHER, MATTHEW F]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight: 1994–1995

Disappointment

At the end of the season, Mia collected virtually every award and accolade possible. Not only did she repeat as national and ACC Player of the Year, but she was also named the Mary Garber Award winner as ACC female Athlete of the Year and was the recipient of the Honda-Broderick Cup, given to the most outstanding female athlete in collegiate sports.

The awards were nice, but after graduating from college, Mia was already looking ahead. In the summer of 1994, while the men’s World Cup was being staged in the United States for the first time, the women’s national team would again have to qualify for the women’s World Cup. If they did, they then would get a chance to repeat their title in Sweden in 1995. After that, Mia hoped to compete in the Olympics.

The hype that surrounded the 1994 men’s World Cup raised the profile of soccer in the United States. That event, coupled with the addition of women’s soccer as an Olympic medal event, dramatically changed women’s soccer. The national team, which had thus far played and practiced in obscurity, was suddenly the focus of much more attention. Magazines profiled the team’s best players. Corporations realized that the U.S. squad would be favored to win a medal in Atlanta. All of a sudden, they were interested in helping to sponsor the national team.

Almost overnight, the women’s team began to be treated almost as well as the men’s team. Plans were made to create a training center for the team in Florida, and team members were put on salary, which allowed them to focus entirely upon the World Cup. Mia even signed an endorsement contract with Nike, the sporting goods company. It was an exciting time to be a female soccer player.

But other nations had the same reaction to the news about the Olympics. They, too, started paying more attention to the sport. Women’s professional leagues had sprouted up in Sweden, Norway, and Germany. The upcoming women’s World Cup promised to be much more competitive. The American team wouldn’t have an easy time repeating as champions. As Mia commented to a reporter, “Any one of the teams could beat us this year. We’re all basically equal in talent.”

In 1994, Coach Dorrance shocked everyone when he announced that he was stepping down as head coach of the national team. Collegiate soccer was expanding rapidly, and he felt he could no longer serve as coach of both the national team and UNC. It would be up to new coach Tony DiCicco to get the team together.

The American team had little difficulty in the qualifying round, defeating all four opponents while giving up only a single goal. Mia played extremely well. Against the team from Trinidad and Tobago, she nailed four goals in an 11-1 win.

Yet everything wasn’t perfect for the Americans. Michelle Akers was ill with chronic fatigue syndrome, and no one was certain how much she would be able to play in the World Cup or even if she was going to play at all.

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