Women’s World Cup Memories
Dean Caparaz (left, in blue) interviews Australia's Julie Murray (right) in the 1999 Women's World Cup mixed zone.

deibj8/21/2023 3:31 PM | By: Dean Caparaz '90

Women’s World Cup Memories

The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup – the best incarnation of the tournament in its short history – evoked many fond memories for me of the growth of women's soccer, in the United States and beyond.

I work with the Cal men's soccer team in my role in Cal Athletic Communications, and I've enjoyed supporting the teams of Leonard Griffin and Kevin Grimes through the years.
Dean Caparaz
             Dean Caparaz
I've had a front-row seat to watch many talented Golden Bears – including A.J. Soares, Servando Carrasco, Steve Birnbaum, David Bingham, Drake Callender, Christopher Grey, Wyatt Meyer and many more – make their way through Berkeley. (By the way, congrats to Drake and Inter Miami on the Leagues Cup victory!)

But before I joined the Cal staff, I was much more involved with the women's side of the game. 

Over 11 years, I wrote – first as an intern and eventually an associate editor – for Soccer America, joining the magazine after graduating from UC Berkeley in 1990. It was a good segue into professional sports journalism after I covered Cal Athletics for The Daily Californian.

My main beat was the USWNT, and I spent much of my time reporting on Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, Cal alumna Joy Fawcett, Brandi Chastain and many of the other stars of the era. (Brandi was a freshman at Cal at the same time I was, before she moved on to Santa Clara.) I went to Sweden for the 1995 Women's World Cup, covered the U.S. in the 1996 Olympics (the Atlanta Games included women's soccer for the first time), and traveled around the country again to cover the United States in the 1999 Women's World Cup, with the U.S. – the winner of the first FIFA World Championship for Women's Football in 1991 – and Norway – the 1995 Women's World Cup champion – the favorites that year.

In February 1999, San Jose hosted the WWC draw and a game between the FIFA World All-Stars vs. the USWNT. At a press conference in San Jose, when I asked whether the domination of the sport by one or two teams was a good thing for women's soccer's global popularity, FIFA event manager Jacqueline Moresi told me – as I wrote in the March 1, 1999, edition of Soccer America: "It's true there's a big gap from the two teams that are at the top and other teams that are not known to the general public. It would certainly make it more interesting if this gap would be reduced."

As we learned over the past month, that gap is gone.

The USWNT has just started to search for its next head coach after ignominiously exiting in the round of 16 Down Under, while Norway hasn't been a top-two team in the world for quite some time. Germany, a two-time champion, and China, the 1999 runner-up, are not as good as they used to be.

It was wonderful – despite the time difference – to behold the improvement of such nations as Colombia, South Africa, Morocco, Jamaica, the Philippines, co-host Australia and even champion Spain. Especially Spain, which had never even won a match in the knockout rounds of the Women's World Cup until this year. There's a lot of work to be done to produce equality in soccer around the world, to be sure, but many of the national federations have to be commended for opening up their pocket books (somewhat) to support their women's national teams and women's youth national teams. The same is true of the support that many domestic leagues around the world have shown for their women's club teams.

The international talent wasn't too shabby in 1999, either, as that all-star game in San Jose displayed. The international squad practiced just once before defeating the mighty USWNT, 2-1, with Canada star Charmaine Hooper, who starred at N.C. State, scoring twice to offset the U.S. goal by former Stanford All-American Julie Foudy.

Speaking of women's college soccer – my other beat at SA – Title IX and the growth of the collegiate game, of course, gave the USWNT a head start on success and had a major impact on the global game. Back in the early 1980s, there were about 100 NCAA Division I women's programs around the United States – future multi-time champions UCLA, USC and Florida State didn't even have programs at the time – while now there are close to 350 DI women's teams.

The college game has produced numerous talented players for the USWNT, including, currently, Cal alumna Alex Morgan, Stanford alum Sophia Smith, Alyssa Naeher (Penn State), etc. Even England head coach Sarina Wiegman played at North Carolina for one year, winning the 1989 NCAA championship. But club soccer is supplanting (has supplanted?) colleges as the best producer of talent for national teams around the world, and…well, that's another blog entry.

I've been lucky to get to see Alex, Laura Schott, Maite Zabala, Ifeoma Onumanu, Betsy Hassett and a host of other Bears compete for the Cal women's soccer team. The 2023 Bears next play on Aug. 31, when they host San Francisco. The Cal men start the regular season Thursday at 7 p.m. ET at UNC Greensboro and then play at Wake Forest on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.

Dean Caparaz is an Assistant Director in Cal Athletic Communications.
 
Dean Caparaz interviews a young Mia Hamm
Interviewing former U.S. star Mia Hamm during her North Carolina days.

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