Tracy's Diary: Part Four
July 8, 1999
In Part Four of Tracy Ducar's World Cup Diary, she tells the behind-the-scenes story of Team USA's win over Germany, making videos for David Letterman and meeting the President.
Tracy's Diary: Part Four
We are into the quarterfinals. Now if you don't get it done you go home. This is when it starts to get interesting and is why we play this game.
On Monday we arrived in Washington DC at 1pm. We were greeted by some clapping at Dulles, but it was a relatively mild reception compared to Logan airport last week.
There are a ton of great photos and articles from last night's game. My favorite was a NY Times photo of Tisha upside down on her flip! I cut that one out to save for my scrapbook.
A nice perk that we have experienced during this World Cup is that we no longer have to deal with carrying our luggage around. Since we travel with so much team gear each of us individually is limited to one bag for this entire trip, so when you are gone for a month you have one very full, extremely heavy, large bag.
All we do is leave our bags outside our hotel room the night before we fly and then the next day they are delivered to our doorstep at the next location. This is quite a back-saver … especially for me with all of my back problems. This detail is one of the many thankless jobs that our magnificent equipment manager, Dainis, handles … we love him for it!
Practice today was canceled due to thunderstorms. It was just as well though because Tony just wanted us to do a pool workout. Our trainer, Sue, led us through a series of running, skipping, stretching in the water.
Then Colleen, our sport psychologist, ended our session with a game of "sharks and minnows." The pool was small and with three sharks it was impossible for any minnows to survive, thus our game quickly turned into full-contact sharks and minnows. A few decoy minnows would sacrifice themselves and hold the sharks at bay while the rest swam safely by.
Danielle Fotopoulos was one strong minnow that easily kept the shark, Mia, from escaping. That wasn't a very fair matchup, but it was funny. And, of course, no pool session is complete without someone getting thrown in the pool, so we threw Sue in without much of a struggle and then finally pried Colleen off of Dainis. She was scratching and kicking right up until the end.
Once again we made the Letterman Show. Tonight, we were the focus of the Top Ten List. The topic was "The Top Ten Slogans Used By The US Women's National Team." We are starting to become a regular feature on his show. He even declared that this past weekend he had sealed the deal and purchased the US Women's Soccer Team, so he now owns the team …- or so he says. :-)
On Tuesday we trained at George Mason. We only trained for a little over an hour and finished with a PK competition. Hopefully we won't get in a situation where we have to take PKs to advance, but we will be prepared just in case.
That afternoon was the typical lunch, mall, movies, massages, dinner, meeting, etc. Then after dinner several of us went to visit the team dentist, Dr. Emilio Canal -- great name for a dentist huh? And as much as we hate to admit it a few players had to get 2 fillings, just like the commercial. It was pretty funny.
On Wednesday we decided to train at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium to get used to the playing surface. Our bus was late to pick us up for training, (caught in traffic), so Julie got her camcorder out and got to work on our video for Letterman. Since Dave claimed that he bought our team we put together a series of scenarios in which we deflect all requests that are asked of us to Dave ... "Ask Dave." If he is going to own us he better be prepared to deal with all of our demands. We sent the video off to his show on Friday so hopefully we will get some of it his show. Make sure you keep watching "The Late Show" on CBS, chances are that you will see us!
The field at Jack Kent Cooke was perfect....plush grass....you would never know that there had already been 4 games played on this surface. The field maintenance crew did a great job....thanks!
After practice we handled the barrage of media. Well, Mia mainly gets the brunt, and I must say she handles the spotlight very graciously. A lot of pressure is put on her to be the team spokeswoman, and she always makes herself available after long tiring practices. That afternoon I went running. It was good to get out and sweat a little.
Thursday -- today is game day. So what do we do before a big game???
Well, I am sitting here typing away at another journal entry while listening to "Staying Alive" on the radio! I went running early this morning because I know I will not play in tonight's game. I need to stay fit on my own if I am not playing. Plus I always feel better, looser and more energized, after a run.
Some players are napping and resting, Milbrett and a few others made their standard run to Starbucks, and Christie Pearce is hard at work on Saskia's latest hair design. Today's pattern is an all white base with red and blue stars painted all over. Fair, Whalen, Vench, and many others were hard at work on their nails. Today's addition to the red, white, and blue ... gold polish to signify that we are going for the gold!
We departed at 4:30pm, an hour drive to Jack Kent Cooke Stadium....the stadium is brand new and is home to the Washington Redskins -- can't wait to play in yet another top notch facility! Today we have the first game and for the first time in 4 games we will get a full warmup on the field.
When you watch our games you may notice that many of us have messages written on our sock tape. Michelle Akers always puts a different message on hers -- biblical verses, birthday wishes to loved ones, etc. Today the Tar Heels paid tribute to a friend and true fan of ours, Chancellor Michael Hooker.
He passed away on Tuesday, June 29th, and he will be missed by all of us who knew him. He made a tremendous impact at the University of North Carolina and in the community in his four years as chancellor. He always made an effort to know the student body and support academics and athletics. I remember him and his wonderful wife, Carmen, attending many of our games at UNC.
My favorite memory of him was at a UNC / Duke basketball game in 1998 in the Dean Dome. He and his wife always sat in the student section next to the band. They could have any seat in the house and that was what they chose. Well during this particular game, (the biggest regular season game we have), he allowed the students to carry him raised above their heads all the way to the top of the section. He was truly a Chancellor OF the students. Since we were unable to attend his services we found the sock tape tribute was the best way to remember our friend.
A little before 7pm we walked out onto the pitch to prepare for the match. To our surprise the stadium was still a bit empty, quite frankly we were expecting another full stadium. The game is about to start...where is everyone? As it turns out about 50 percent of the crowd arrived to the game late due to horrible traffic. Even our parents got to the game late! My husband didn't make it until halftime! You just can't expect to go through the Nation's Capital at 5-6pm on a Thursday and not hit any traffic … unless you are the US Team. Then you get a police escort. :-)
Germany was all over us right from the start. They came out battling and we came out on our heels. Instead of taking it to them we were feeling them out and seeing what they were going to throw at us....not a good game strategy. The consequence, we gave up an own goal in the first 10 minutes. Yikes! There was a miscommunication between Bri and Brandi and the backpass rolled right into an open net.
On the bench, we just stared at each other in amazement ... did that just happen?!?! On the field the team regrouped and kept battling, but we struggled to control play in the midfield. Finally we caught a break when a bad clearance by Germany bounced to Milbrett's feet, she turned took a touch and then calmly buried past the onrushing goalkeeper.
The rest of the half was ugly. We looked tired and we had trouble maintaining possession. It appeared as if we were just trying to go into the locker room at halftime pleased with a tie.
Well, the Germans would have none of that and continued to press us. They capitalized with a great shot into the far post upper corner right before the half. No goalkeeper was going to save that shot. So we went into the locker room down 2-1.
In the second half we came out and played with a lot of heart. We were still just as tired, but we weren't going to be beat. We didn't play a technically clean game, but we just never quit. Our persistence paid off early in the half when Brandi scored. She was happy to get the chance to be able to redeem herself for the own goal. On the bench we were so nervous. We cheered loud and did what we could to encourage our teammates, but most of us were sick to our stomachs from the tension.
Around 20 minutes left in the game Tony subbed Shannon MacMillan in for Julie Foudy. Shannon is our super sub. Whenever she goes in she makes an immediate impact on the game. She is extremely fast, has a powerful shot, and always works her tail off on both offense and defense. Today she lived up to her billing. She ran onto the field and was immediately put to use.
Her first touch on the ball was to take the corner kick. End result? Joy Fawcett headed in Shannon's near post laser. It was awesome! The bench went berserk. We have pretty much given up on doing crazy celebrations because when we score now we are so happy all we can do is jump around and scream. We jump on top of each other, slap high fives, bounce off each other. It is basically one big dance party.
The rest of the half was so nerve racking ...we were counting every second on the clock. Foudy couldn't believe how stressful it was to watch the game from the bench. It is so much easier to be on the field in games like this. Finally the whistle blew and we charged the field to congratulate our teammates and take our celebratory lap.
Akers was my hero today. She is such a warrior. She always plays with so much heart. I love watching her play. She is an inspiration. Today she played with a bad shoulder. After the game in Foxboro, (the game she didn't play in), she was running around the stadium giving high fives to the fans along the wall. Well, one overly excited fan held onto Michelle's hand as she ran by pulling her off her feet and injuring her rotator cuff! That was just her luck. She doesn't even play in the game, but she still gets injured!
That wasn't going to slow her down though, she played through severe pain and fell on it several times in the game when she got fouled. Not only does she play through her Chronic Fatigue Disorder, but she has a nagging ankle sprain and now a sublexed shoulder injury! Unbelievable ... she is my hero.
Also of note ... Kate Sobrero now has to dye her hair red with blue streaks, and it has to be permanent dye! She had a deal with Joy that if Joy scored a goal that she would dye her hair...well Joy scored! Unlucky Kate!
Today's fan of the match? President Clinton! The President, Hillary, and Chelsea attended the game along with the Secretary of Health, Donna Shalala, (she is a big fan of ours and an advocate of our "Smoke Free Kids Campaign"). And after the game we were fortunate enough to be able to meet them ...well some of us at least.
You see after every game two players are selected randomly from each team for drug testing. Well, today was my lucky day. Cindy Parlow and I were the chosen ones. However, somehow Cindy escaped the drug testers and made it back to the locker room. And since the secret service had secured that area no one could enter or leave the locker room once the President was in there.
Where was I? I had been whisked away for drug testing and was stuck in there trying to produce enough urine for the sample. Well, of course my specimen didn't measure up, so I was stuck in there for another 20 minutes while I chugged down three bottles of water. Finally, I was allowed to leave and ran back to our locker room and pleaded with the secret service guys to let me in. It was pretty obvious that I was a player since I still had my uniform on, so they let me in without a hassle.
I walked into the door and the President was just on his way out. So I introduced myself, apologized for being late and explained that I was at drug testing, and got to shake his hand. That was it, not even a photo. I felt like Forrest Gump in the scene where he met President Kennedy, shook his hand, and said, "I gots to pee." It was funny, guess you had to be there. Apparently, he congratulated the team and took a ton of photos with everyone, but I wouldn't know because I couldn't pee. :-)
Then we showered, ate, and waited around for all the interviews. We watched some of the Brazil / Nigeria game and I traded jerseys with the German goalkeeper. On the bus ride home we were treated to a nice gift from a random fan. We all received different beanie babies with our names and a poem attached ... cute.
So we are off to the west coast tomorrow and we will face Brazil in the semi-finals. Brazil escaped a second half comeback from Nigeria and won 4-3 in OT. On the other side on the semifinals defending champions Norway will play China. Only 2 games left....GO USA!