How does a single word in a large piece of legislation connect to the biggest win in US soccer history. Welcome everyone to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, as we prepare for the much anticipated final between China and the United States. It's July. More than people have gathered to watch the Women's World Cup soccer final, the largest crowd ever to see a women's sporting event. This is more than a game. This is a defining moment in
women's sports history. It's also about a hundred degrees on the field, and the California sun is brutal. The closely fought game is still tied at zero after one and twenty minutes of soccer. The exhausted American and Chinese players lie on the turf while trainers massage their cramped muscles. The biggest pressure of their lives. For most of these women,
maybe all, They're most important cadally kicks. With the penalty kick shoot out tied at four apiece, the USA's final kicker, Brandy Chastain, steps up to the penalty box and into the history books. Chop Stain will take it. She missed a penalty kick against Charlte the allegart pump and I lost that care good. Then the woman known as Hollywood to her teammates whips off her jersey and sets off one of the most memorable celebrations in sports history. The
part of the dead is a pass. Whether this was that it continues, Lenited States has one the women's world top Brandy Chastain's kick mark the climax of a summer during which millions of Americans and a new generation of soccer fans fell in love with their national team, But it marks so much more than just that. Each season on The Thread, a podcast from Aussie, we unravel the stories behind some of the most important lives and events in history to discover how one thing leads to another.
In season five of The Thread, we tell the story of a single unforgettable moment in the California Sun, and all of the unsung moments and heroes that made it possible. That triumphant moment at the World Cup was weeks, years, even decades in the making. Chastain's winning kick never happens without a host of other players, most of who never donned the USA jersey or made it onto the field in California. This season on The Thread, we tell their story.
We'll hear about some of the unheralded athletes, policymakers, and scholars whose efforts gave Chastain and her teammates their chance to make history. And we'll learn about some of the momentous goals that were scored off the field and behind the scenes in board rooms, congressional debates, courtrooms, and on
college campuses. We'll learn about how little details change the course of history, how a single word placed into a larger congressional bill altered the life choices of millions of women, and how it opened up the floodgates of opportunity that led to that glorious summer day at the Rose BOWLT in nineteen ninety nine. Subscribe now to The Thread on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.