The streaming giant Netflix announced that it is making a feature film about the 1999 U.S. women’s national team, which won the 1999 FIFA World Cup. There are many reports which suggest that Netflix’s upcoming movie is hinged on “Jere Longman’s book titled, “The Girls of Summer: the U.S Women’ Soccer Team and How It Changed The World.”
Reportedly, after a round of competitive bidding, the most successful streaming giant recently got rights to the book of Jere Longman and thought of getting the book into a visible and audible movie.
The film will portray the experiences of the team in the Women’s World Cup, particularly the final, which was against China. This match is always reminiscent of Brandi Chastain, an iconic image, who took off her shirt after scoring the winning goal.
What's the 1999 World Cup winning US Women's Soccer Team up to now?
We checked in with @JulieFoudy, @MiaHamm, @MichelleAkers10, @joyfawcett14, @KristineLilly, @BriScurry, Carla Overbeck, and @brandichastain to find out! pic.twitter.com/FFYPkXjHo5
— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) May 12, 2020
Liza Chasin is producing the upcoming feature film along with Andale Productions’ Hayley Stool and Ross Greenburg of Ross Greenburg Productions. President and CEO of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Marla Messing, Krista Smith, with Jill Mazursky, will be the executive producers of the upcoming Netflix film. The 1999 World Cup of women is regarded as a turning point in women’s game history with the USWNT packing stadiums across the world that summer.
With having 120 scoreless minutes against China U.S won the match with a neck to neck competition by doing the penalty shootout. It took place in the Rose Bowl, Southern California. USWNT champion Brandi Chastain made an immediate historic moment, ripped off her shirt after scoring the winning goal of World Cup 1999.
It was USWNT’s second after they took home the inaugural event in 1991. The team went forward and won 2 more world cup in 2015 and in 2019. Vice President of the Netflix Films Tendo Nagenda remembered watching the 1999 FIFA World Cup and said in a blog that the moment was breathtaking with a groundbreaking game at the Union Square.
Tendo Nagenda also revealed that he and his colleagues stood outside the bars to watch the Women’s World Cup series. He further added that watching the USA team that summer made him forget that he had no money and a little more than a dream to feed himself.
Besides that, he also wrote in a blog that “That team, that goal and Brandi Chastain’s unforgettable reaction in which she ripped off her shirt and dropped to her knees in astonishment made me believe I could do anything, and do it my way,”
Tendo Nagenda also said that the 1999 Women’s World Cup converted millions of people into lovers of soccer. It led to more funding and exposure for women’s soccer worldwide, including the creation of the first North American professional women’s soccer league. Altogether, it leads to a new way of thinking and taking up sports for Women especially.
In addition to this, he also added that even most specifically, gender debates were started in athletics, propelling women’s ligaments around the globe and encouraging a whole generation of young girls to have a greater vision, and thereby paving the way for Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and so many others to join Team USA.
