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FEMALE REPORTER: In the world of women's soccer,
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
the NWSL Washington Spirit - Good to see you.
have announced a new group of investors
that includes a familiar name.
Good to see you. [chuckles]
Former US Women's National Team goalkeeper Briana Scurry.
There she is!
The two-time Olympic gold medalist
and World Cup champ is perhaps best known
for making the biggest save in US soccer history.
What's your job? What do you do here?
Scurry, who played in the two previous
American professional women's leagues,
now making the jump from the pitch to the owner suite...
I remember being a little girl
watching you all with the '99ers...
- And it's like-- - How old were you?
I can't remember-- Nine.
Oh, my god.
REPORTER: She's joining a growing list
of prominent NWSL investors,
including Billie Jean King, Natalie Portman....
- Hi! - How are you?
...Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams.
[crowd cheering and applause]
Could it be third time's a charm,
from the legendary Hall of Famer.
When we come back, highlights from around the UK...
♪
When you're looking at a game
that already doesn't have a lot of Black women,
and then you see a Black woman in a position
that you really, like, you never see a Black women
and you're just, like...
"This is strange, but I-- I'm liking it."
[laughing]
Briana Scurry, for a young Black girl,
you know, she was-- she was it,
She was before Venus and Serena to me, you know?
She was the one that
opened my eyes to the fact
that I could be a professional athlete.
I think that's a crazy thing
to be able to say that you changed the game in that way,
like you made something,
not really appreciated,
extremely significant.
SCURRY: You know, I was born here in Minneapolis.
I lived here in the area for six years
and my parents moved to the suburbs.
I remember being the only one.
The only Black girl at my elementary school,
the only Black girl at my junior high school,
as far as I knew, the only Black girl
in the biggest high school in the state, Anoka.
I remember being the only Black girl
on every sports team I played on.
It's hard to explain, though,
because, at the time, I didn't feel like
there was a weight of hidden racism
on that scale against me.
And it took me a long time to
even really think that I could be the case.
COFFEY: It sounds a little trite, but Briana Scurry
grew up from a young age
just believing to the core
that she could do anything and be anything,
and that really came straight from her parents.
SCURRY: I think, for me, as the youngest of nine,
my mom and dad were around a lot
more than maybe they were around
with my older brothers and sisters.
So I felt a real sense of support with them.
You know, they were there all the time.
It was just a great feeling to have them.
To know they were in my corner.
GORDON: Briana came along at a time
where the rest of the siblings were grown ups
and, uh, my parents they had more time.
They had a little bit more income
and ability and anything and everything
that Briana liked or wanted
was a priority for them.
SCURRY: My mom had a very big heart,
was very welcoming,
and she was also incredibly athletic when she was younger.
She was always saying, you know,
"You go out there and you get stuck in there,"
she used to always say.
And, somehow, without even really saying it to me,
I always felt strong.
COFFEY: One of the things that became apparent quickly
to Bri's parents was that they had
a pretty extraordinary athlete on their hands.
At a young age, I played floor hockey, played soccer,
I played softball, I ran track,
and I also played basketball.
And of course, football
when I was in fourth or fifth grade.
Tackle football, full pads,
the whole nine yards.
Wore my helmet to bed.
I knew I was an athletic kid,
but I knew I wasn't a dime a dozen athletic kid.
I was doing things at a young age back then
at a level that just seemed very uncommon.
COFFEY: One of the greatest thrills of Bri's young life
was in her senior year
when the Anoka High School Tornadoes
made an unprecedented run
to the Minnesota State Girls' Championship,
and she actually stopped penalty kicks
and then she took one.
You know, they were in the Metrodome playing soccer.
For a kid from Dayton, Minnesota,
this was epic.
But she loved basketball
and she saw herself as a basketball player.
She saw herself as a college basketball player
and she had some scholarship offers to play in college,
but as a big time college basketball player,
it probably wasn't in the cards.
So it was gonna to happen via soccer.
The first time I met Bri...
Okay, we're gonna age me right now,
was in college. [laughing]
I went to Rutgers University and Bri went to UMass,
so the first time I met Bri,
we played against each other.
I remember at that point
I had already come into the national team and everything,
and when I saw her play,
I was like, "Oh, man, I got competition."
COFFEY: In Bri's whole time at UMass,
the team was really strong, but in her junior year
Bri had given up three goals the entire year.
Three goals.
She would be named the Goalkeeper of the Year,
nationally, she was a first team All-American
and UMass makes it all the way to the national semifinals
and their opponent is the fabled
University of North Carolina, Tar Heels,
coached by Anson Dorrance.
COMMENTATOR: The North Carolina Tar Heels are champions again!
Six straight times!
DORRANCE: Back in those days,
a tryout for the US Women's National Team
was when you played the University of North Carolina
because the teams we had back then were so good
that we'd get to almost every final four.
COFFEY: UNC, basically,
they lose like one game a decade.
You can look at the greatest players in the country
and not all of them were from North Carolina,
but most of them were.
You know, the soccer world was a bit different back then
because you never knew who was watching.
You didn't have social media.
There wasn't a lot of soccer on TV,
so you were hoping that,
um, the chance to play in front of, obviously,
the national team coach made an impression.
[cheering]
DORRANCE: And so here we are in the semifinals,
and who will be matched up with?
UMass.
And who's in their goal?
Is this kid I've heard a lot about
and we're struggling to get the ball by her.
Boy, there were some hair-raising moments.
I definitely felt like I didn't put my best foot forward.
We got shellacked 4-1.
I mean, I don't think I had given up
that many goals in any game
in my collegiate career.
Uh, four is a lot.
They had the ball on my side of the field
most of the first half,
but the second half we played them even.
If you look at the score is one to one, second half.
Even though the final score was 4-1,
it didn't feel like that secure.
We had to work incredibly hard
just to get those four goals in.
You know, when you're up three goals
against a team like UMass
and the kind of talent.
not only the 10 people in the field,
but their goalkeeper.
We were real reluctant to-- to shoot at her
because of how good she was.
So, uh, what we talked about
is the only way to beat her is to pass it around her.
And that's what we did today.
SCURRY: After that, Mia called me over
and she said "Great game, keep."
And I remember thinking,
"What is she talking about?"
[laughing] Like, what-- are you-- are you--
Did you see the same game that I-- that I saw?
'Cause I didn't feel like I had a great game
I didn't feel like that.
And she said, "No, you had a great game."
And for some reason, and I--
to this very day I don't know where this came from,
um, I said,
"Tell him that" and I motioned over to Anson.
And she said, "He already knows."
I think, first and foremost,
you know, Anson's a competitor
and he wants to win
and he wanted to put the best players,
the most dynamic, the most athletic,
the most fierce competitors,
and Bri checked every single one of those boxes.
- [whistle blowing] - WOMAN: Go, Bri!
DORRANCE: When we bring in kids for the US full National Team...
[woman cheering]
It's not so much what you've done
that's going to get you to the promised land.
It's where we think you can go.
You wanted them to be working themselves to death,
to get to their potential.
And you're not just working on weaknesses.
Yes, you're working on the things
that make you special,
and she was special.
I don't know if I remember the first time I saw Bri,
but I remember how dynamic Bri was.
This was a new, different kind of goalkeeper.
She had these cat-like reflexes.
And was the best shot stopper I had ever seen.
And I remember thinking, "Who is this gal?"
And how have I never seen her before?
She was always pouncing, you know?
Whether she's making the saves here
um, coming out for crosses.
She had this athletic ability that I hadn't seen.
What she brought was strength and athleticism
and, as her career progressed,
she got more and more confident
and it became, like, her domain.
And don't you dare come in.
You know, Bri's athleticism
is off the charts and then learning
that she had only started playing when she was 15.
I was like are you kidding me?
Like-- [chuckles]
COFFEY: Unlike players like Mia Hamm and Carla Overbeck
and Michelle Akers, she was about as far off
the women's soccer assembly line
as you can possibly be.
An African American woman from Dayton, Minnesota?
She sort of showed up at her first national camp at age 23.
Everyone is saying, like, "Who is this?"
WEBBER: I had already obviously known her from college,
so it wasn't a shock to me that she was coming
into national team camp,
but she wasn't rattled at all.
She came in, stoic and calm and confident,
and maybe she was feeling something deep inside
that I didn't see, but she brought it immediately.
DORRANCE: She fit into the camp, you know,
like a hand into a glove.
Very positive attitude about life,
positive attitude about training,
her personality fit in perfectly
with the rest of these velociraptor alpha women.
I mean, look at all these different players
that we had in this camp.
These are reigning world champions
and these are all extraordinary players.
You are picking up the ball out of the back of your net
on a consistent basis
because, let's face it,
if the other team you're playing against
has, you know, Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy,
you're gonna take a pounding in that 4v4 game.
You're gonna take a pounding.
COFFEY: Within a matter of months
she'd gone from someone
who was nowhere even on the radar
to the starting goalkeeper
for the US Women's National Team.
I think all of us were a bit surprised
at the jump so quickly
but at the same time, when she was in there,
we felt so confident.
And so I think she was the right goalkeeper
at the right time for our team.
COFFEY: In advance of the 1995 Women's World Cup,
Anson Dorrance turned the team over
to his top assistant,
the goalkeeping coach Tony DiCicco.
And, as much as Bri respected Anson,
she was thrilled that Tony was gonna get this opportunity
because he was her coach, he was her guy.
So here's what happened, I think, when I stepped back,
I think Tony knew he had a great goalkeeper in Bri.
- WOMAN: Yeah, Bri. - TONY: Nice save, Bri.
DORRANCE: But also with his background
in player development, in goal,
he also knew what he could do with a great goalkeeper
that had the ambition and coachability
of this extraordinary kid.
[exclaiming]
[laughing]
WEBBER: Anson had always focused on goalkeeping.
More than I had ever had been focused on before
in any other team, college or whatever.
TONY: You need five goals out of 15.
And I felt that Tony made that a smooth transition.
It wasn't like, "Hey, go catch the ball in the corner."
Um... [laughing]
You know, it wasn't.
WAHL: It was a great thing for Briana's career
that Tony in his position was a full coach.
He wasn't just a goalkeeper's coach.
He invested in her,
but he knew what he was looking for
and made a pick early on with Briana Scurry
that she could be the best goalkeeper
in the United States, best goalkeeper in the world.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA!
SCURRY: In the '95 World Cup
we ended up on our collision course
with Norway in the semifinal,
and I could just feel
that this was a big game.
COMMENTATOR: Riise...
Good catch by Scurry, the USA goalkeeper.
[crowd cheering]
Norway, better known as Viking bitches...
Oh, the Viking bitches?
Yeah.
COMMENTATOR: Riise, oh, still Riise!
[commentator indistinct]
Norway never made the game easy.
[yelling directions]
Super tall, super direct.
Would fly the ball in
and that was always the semifinal,
the final of some big World Cup or Olympics.
Ah!
CHASTAIN: Intense.
I would say "intense" is probably the correct word
to use when playing Norway.
COMMENTATOR: On the corner kick...
Espeseth is gonna take it.
They had a corner kick.
I knew where Aaroønes was.
She got a little free.
She was able to wiggle free
and she got to the ball
and like, literally, a half inch before I did.
COMMENTATOR: From the corner, it's an in swinger...
A head pop that posted in!
Norway has scored the game's first goal!
It was just devastating.
COMMENTATOR: Something's going to have to change
for the USA and go for the win...
HAMM: You know, we only played one good half of soccer
in that game against Norway,
and it was too late.
You know, we hit the crossbar.
We made the keeper make some great saves
and we paid the price.
COMMENTATOR: Oh, world champions no more.
SCURRY: Unfortunately, we lost that game
and then they did this train thing.
CHASTAIN: They celebrated in such a
in-your-face kind of way
that didn't sit very well with a lot of our teammates.
FOUDY: The Viking bitches doing that centipede crawl around us.
It was like, "How dare you do that?"
[cheering]
I remember standing on the sideline.
Just watching it because I wanted it burnt
into my mind and into my heart
so that I would never let it happen again.
And we all used that as fuel.
HAMM: Everyone knew we could be better.
We want to be a strong team
and that's what happened in '96.
This renewed dedication to being fitter, faster, stronger.
As a team, we are, like, never again.
COMMENTATOR: ...take it away.
28 seconds.
The crowd going insane!
[crowd cheering]
SCURRY: When I was eight years old,
I was sitting on the couch with my mom on one side
and my dad on the other side
watching the 1980 Olympic Games.
Jim Craig spinning on his head
and literally just doing everything he could
and Al Michaels said, do you believe in miracles?
- [crowd cheering] - COMMENTATOR: Yes!
I was, like, "yes."
I jumped off the couch
and said, "I wanna be an Olympian!"
And then when I was a teenager,
I made this little sign
and it said "Olympics 1996, I have a dream."
And I put that sign on my wall
so I would see it every morning when I woke up
and every night before I go to bed
and I always kept that dream in my heart.
COFFEY: The 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta
marked the debut of women's soccer as an Olympic sport
and that was a game changer in every way.
It was a dream for all of us,
because we all, as Americans,
are drawn to the Olympic Games.
It's the best in the world.
And women's soccer being such a big sport here,
that we finally had been invited to the party was incredible.
And the players weren't willing to give it up.
HAMM: One of the things going from '95 to '96
was we're looking at our contracts
and our bonus structure for the Olympics.
For the women was so different from the men.
Where they got bonuses each stage,
um, we only got a bonus if we won gold.
AKERS: And we were suffering, like, we had nothing.
Like, basically, we were saying,
we need to be paid more so we're not relying on our parents
to send us money to eat.
And US Soccer was just belittling us
and spinning this whole thing like
we were selfish little girls.
FOUDY: But now we had been together for about seven years
and we were starting to realize the inequities involved
in stories you heard about
where the men's national team was staying
and it would be a Ritz Carlton.
And we're at, like, the Holiday Inn Express.
Or how many massage therapists they had
and we are fighting to get even one to travel with us.
And we knew we had some leverage
with it being the very first Olympics in '96 that we were in.
This is really one of the first big public conflicts
between the Women's National Team players and the Federation.
They only get a bonus if they win gold, right?
And that's not to say that's not the expectation,
but it shouldn't just be gold or bust,
because also we're human.
The men, and they were all men,
who ran US Soccer,
did not want to pay them what they deserved.
To have these players threatened
to not play in a major tournament,
in a couple of cases, to not play for US Soccer ever again...
Um, that took guts.
I don't know if I said or someone said--
Just said, "You know what? I'm scared."
And I remember Julie saying "So are we."
But we know if we're strong and we stay united
and we stay together,
the fight will be easier for us.
WAHL: You know, I can remember the US women won
the 1991 Women's World Cup,
the very first one.
And you had starters on that team
retire from the sport right after that
because they couldn't afford to be full time soccer players.
And that's obviously pretty messed up.
[crowd cheering]
The US Women's National Team,
both past and present,
come up on the stage.
FOUDY: We were very cognizant of this is a fight
that is much more than just soccer
and is much-- much more than just us.
It's about how you want to leave the game
and what, most importantly,
what you want the next generation to get
and what are you doing for them to make it better.
BIDEN: They've won World Cups,
the Olympics, gold medals
and after much, much, much too long, equal pay.
[cheering]
Today's equal payday.
CHASTAIN: These were the bedrock,
foundational conversations and negotiations
that the women's team was having with US Soccer.
And here we are in 2022
and we're just now talking about
this landmark decision that's happened.
Now to a major victory for women in the sports world.
That battle for equal pay for members
of the US Women's National Soccer Team
has finally come to an end with a landmark settlement.
My team started the whole battle
with the equality and equity in pay,
and I think now, 20 years later,
the lawsuit was the next step in that battle.
When I read about the team,
essentially, sticking their necks out there
like we did putting our Olympic dreams on the line
was very, very difficult,
but very, very powerful and we knew we had to do it.
And so the significance of the Olympics was
Briana and Julie and Mia
and Carla and Joy, Kristine
and these players who have been around
would stand up for that,
was incredible.
Like, the opportunity to play in the Olympics
was something we all dreamed about,
but we were willing to kind of give that up
to do the right thing.
Eventually, the US Women's players,
including Briana Scurry,
got what they wanted
and got a new deal from US Soccer
and started the long road of wins
that never came easy,
but have continued to today.
I do think it was a huge moment for us
because it was the first time
we've landed that flag with US Soccer
and said, "Uh-uh, enough."
And we didn't get it all, of course,
in that first round of negotiations
and realized that we--
we had the wrong lawyer
who didn't fight for the things we needed to fight for,
but it was the first time we had the courage
to say, "No, no more."
SCURRY: I first had the chills about being an Olympian
when I saw my name on the roster.
That was the moment that it really set in for me
and was just a-- a real exhaling
and a-- and a relief,
you know, I was on my way.
But the hugest moment was in Atlanta.
We come around the walkway,
600 and something strong
and into the stadium, Team USA,
we're all together
and you're supposed to stand in line
and keep six abreast,
but we were all over the place
and everybody's like waving
and "Hi, mom!"
And taking pictures of each other
and it's emotional
and I'm getting emotional talking about it.
But that was magical, I mean.
[sighs]
There was nothing like it,
It was palpable, it was visceral.
You could feel the energy.
They would stand up and sing the national anthem
on planes where I was.
I was like, "Wow, okay, thank you."
COMMENTATOR: The United States of America!
COFFEY: And people knew that the US Women were good,
that they had a good team.
They won in '91,
but the Olympics takes it to a whole different level.
Their first game they played in front of 25,000 people.
That was, you know,
the population of Dayton, Minnesota times 10.
They cruised through the tournament
and then they made it to the semifinals
and the semifinal opponent,
wouldn't, you know it, evil Norway.
It's becoming an event.
It was payback time
and we were the home team
in a way that you can't be home team any other time.
It was perfect.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA!
We just knew, it felt very different.
Bri was playing awesome.
She was making great saves, keeping us in it
and so it was really on us to just finish them off.
I just felt like we were gonna get it
and I-- I think part of that, for me, was
my parents were in attendance.
And I was living my dream.
But the way we did it, with Shannon MacMillan
coming in off the bench and scoring the golden goal.
- [crowd cheering] - [Scurry laughing]
Beating them like that.
Ugh, so good!
[laughing] Just felt so good.
Still feels good, obviously.
CHASTAIN: And Bri then says,
"We win this and I'm gonna streak."
She's going to run through the streets naked
with just her gold medal on.
Of course, we were going to say yes to that one,
You-- Yes, let's see it.
And we're like, "Pff, whatever, right."
You're not gonna do that, like,
and then we're like,
"Is she gonna do that?"
COFFEY: Except they weren't quite at the top yet.
Because if they wanted to win the gold medal,
they had to beat China.
SCURRY: The final was just a dream.
It was a gorgeous night with all those people there.
COFFEY: It was a really tight game with China.
China dominated per phases.
the US also had great chances, but it was tight.
SCURRY: We scored first, they scored,
but you just know stuff sometimes
and I just knew and then
we scored that amazing goal.
- And that was it. - [whistle blowing]
And we won.
[cheering]
Right when the whistle blew, I put my arms up
and I literally just ran.
I ran to the pile of people
and I don't even remember my feet hitting the ground.
The dream that the little 8-year old girl
had to be an Olympian
was made real right-- right at that moment.
I think I was beyond tears the night on the podium.
I just dreamed of that all my life
and, finally, it happened.
[cheering]
And then there was an after party.
But before the after party,
it's important to note Briana Scurry
is a woman of her word.
I don't-- no, I-- I didn't see this,
so I don't know how long it was.
I don't know if it was five yards,
I don't know if it was 500 yards.
I don't know who was there.
[laughing]
I do know it happened,
but I--
You-- ask Julie, I don't know.
Oh, it happened.
She's gonna follow through with what she says,
she's a woman of her word so.
[laughing]
She's streaking in the quad.
There are some videos out there,
but I think they're in a safe.
She said it and she did it,
and that's pretty--
It's pretty badass.
[laughing]
[cheering]
Awesome, thanks for coming!
FOUDY: Well, it's interesting 'cause
we had always said to US Soccer,
"Can you not feel the energy around this team
"without any marketing, without any investment
without anything, right?"
Yet, you know, Nike comes in as a huge sponsor
and sees the potential in Mia Hamm, right?
And Mia and Michael Jordan are doing commercials together.
Had enough?
[laughing] Let's go.
Think about that, before, like, the team
had even been on the map.
They had the foresight to go,
"Oh, there's something here."
And so we were constantly like, "Do you not see it?"
And '96 was this great moment
where it gave you a soccer a window
into the-- into the potential.
FEMALE REPORTER: They're strong.
They're sturdy,
they're skillful,
and, suddenly, they're super cool.
[children chanting] USA! USA!
SCURRY: The '99 World Cup was originally supposed to be,
you know, two to five thousands seat stadiums.
Really small, you know,
very, you know, almost a regional tournament.
And we wanted to play at Soldier Field and RFK
and the Rose Bowl and all these bigger stadiums
that the football teams play in
because we felt we could fill it if we got
in touch with the soccer community in this country.
FOUDY: We were all in on it
in terms of autograph signings, clinics.
I mean, we did so many promotional things
MAN: Action!
FOUDY: We would joke that, literally,
if you want us to go door to door knocking,
asking them to come, we'll do that.
MAN: Yeah, that's good. That's good.
SCURRY: It's going to get us out there in the mainstream,
which is what it's intended to do.
Um, it's just going to make people aware
of what we're doing here
and that we are more than just, you know,
the soccer balls we kick around.
HAMM: Marla Messing, who ran the Women's World Cup
organizing committee kind of stepped in
and said, "We're going to blow this up,
"like, this is gonna be the biggest
women's sporting event ever,"
but she basically said, "I'm gonna need your help."
So we went to a lot of cities,
kissed a lot of babies
just to connect and kind of share with the fans
like, "Hey, you want to be a part of history."
Like, "This coming to your backyard
and we need you, we want you there."
FEMALE REPORTER: Briana, I would like to ask you,
there are so many little girls over here
watching you guys play.
You know, you women are some of the only heroes
a lot of these girls have.
You take that as responsibility and--
Oh, yeah.
Definitely, it's part of the--
it's part of the job description so to speak.
I'm-- I'm glad I can be that to someone
because I didn't have that myself.
FOUDY: We knew this was bigger than soccer
and we knew that it was about
really setting a standard
for what a woman's sporting event could look like.
Look right here! Right here!
[cheering]
No one had ever
built a tournament like this.
This is it, baby.
HAMM: You know, we all talk about driving to that first game
and how it was validation
for all that time that we had put in.
SCURRY: On our way to the game,
with police escort,
we were a little confused
about why there was so much traffic.
I mean, we were a little bit worried
that we were gonna be late.
Until we realized all the traffic was for us.
That's what 76,000 people looks like.
[laughing]
[crowd cheering]
HAMM: We pull into the stadium
and in the parking lot
kids are wearing our jerseys
and entire families playing pickup.
SCURRY: We were like little girls in that bus.
We took pictures of them.
They took pictures of us.
We were absolutely giddy.
[chuckles]
[cheering]
DELLACAMERA: The 1999 Women's World Cup
was such a significant moment in our soccer history.
You have to remember that in 1998
at the Men's World Cup in France,
out of 32 teams,
the US Men finished dead last.
The 1995 Women's World Cup was held in Sweden,
the stadiums weren't so great.
the attendance was not good at all
and it was almost like a big secret
that there was a World Cup there.
In fact, my media credential
didn't even call it a World Cup.
So I think that that was the first sense
that this was something big.
- [crowd cheering] - SCURRY: Yeah, baby!
The talk from kind of the media side
that started, kind of, proliferating around was...
the US Women's National Team needs to win the World Cup
[muffled] or the future of women's soccer will disappear.
Like, honestly, it wasn't just that we were
battling for the World Cup championship,
but we were fighting for the livelihood
and the breadth of women's soccer globally.
COMMENTATOR: Briana Scurry will be starting goalkeeper today
for the United States as we check the rest
of the USA starting lineup, Wendy.
I think the first time I really thought
"I want to be a professional soccer player when I grow up"
is watching the '99ers.
COMMENTATOR: Hamm, brings it down,
still on it with the left foot...
And the goal!
[crowd cheering]
EDU: As a young kid, having sisters who also played the game
the same way that I was inspired,
I'm sure they took inspiration too.
To see a strong Black woman
on the biggest stage in the sport that they love,
that they're passionate about, take her moment.
COMMENTATOR: She gets free from Overbeck--
Save Scurry! Rebound, save Scurry!
Briana Scurry made two beauties.
This was one of those moments
that could launch soccer
into another stratosphere in this country,
that popularity of the sport.
COMMENTATOR: Here it comes, Scurry,
swatting it away!
And Briana Scurry being one of the standouts,
it was something that I was thinking about as a kid
that if she could play at that level,
then I could play at that level.
COMMENTATOR: And Scurry is there to hold her ground
and make the save.
PURCE: That 1999 World Cup
I was four.
That entire, like, team,
that entire experience,
I've seen too many times.
COMMENTATOR: And Scurry knock it away.
She's dominating, she's dominating.
HACKER: Bri was at full strength, full capacity.
I mean, if there was anybody that had no gap
between what was possible
and her performance level,
that was Bri in the '99 World Cup.
HAMM: The semifinal game against Brazil...
that was Bri's game.
FOUDY: Bri in that semifinal match
against Brazil at Stanford...
COMMENTATOR: Brazil on the attack...
Over Scurry! She took that over!
Oh, my god.
COMMENTATOR: Shot, save Scurry!
Can we just play that on loop?
COMMENTATOR: Sissi, the shot!
Save, Scurry!
Brazil must look back at that game and be like, "Really?"
[cheering]
COMMENTATOR: It was Briana Scurry's day
on 52nd international shutout...
We would not have made it to the finals without Bri.
Yeah, come on!
Yeah, good!
[cheering]
- We won it, baby! - Whoo!
SCURRY: It was truly just the setup of all setups
and we knew we had to finish the job.
That's what I call a route, baby! Route!
SCURRY: We had done incredibly well showing that we could
play great soccer and have the fans
and draw the crowds and whatnot.
But we knew that in that final we had to win.
[crowd cheering]
Oh!
[laughing]
- Alrighty, then! - What did they do?
HAMM: I remember walking into the field
and this just huge roar when we came out.
COMMENTATOR: This is the biggest game
in the lives of these USA players
and you can say that for China too.
HAMM: And it was, like,
goosebumps and-- and tears because...
Like, we only thought this happened at Men's World Cups.
COFFEY: It's July 9th in Pasadena, California,
it's a brutally hot day.
- It was so hot - Really hot.
[laughing]
It must have been a record-breaking
heat wave that day.
The President of the United States is there.
The Hanson Brothers singing the national anthem.
I think it was, like,
"Oh, my God, you have to-- have to keep it together."
And this building is full
and all these people are there to see women play soccer.
DORRANCE: 90,000 people paying top dollar
to watch women athletes compete in our sport.
And it was, like, "God, take me now."
It's never gonna get any better than this.
CHASTAIN: China was no joke.
From the moment the whistle blew,
that was the most intense game you've ever played
in your whole entire life.
And it was...
so exciting.
SCURRY: It was a real chess match,
almost the entire time.
COMMENTATOR: Here's Hamm...
Both players converge on...
They drive it across!
China's in and Scurry is there!
[crowd cheering]
Until....
COMMENTATOR: Liu Ying strikes it hard...
Scurry comes out!
Somebody got a piece...
I punched Michelle Akers in the head.
COMMENTATOR: Looks like Michelle Akers in the player down.
Tony came over and was, like,
"You sure you ready to go?"
And I'm, "Yes, I am"
and, apparently, I was like, you know?
Uh, and our doc is like, "No."
And so I felt we were hanging on by a thread.
COMMENTATOR: It is still scoreless here,
and the USA and China giving it their all
on the World Cup final.
The overtime period was still golden goal,
so if anybody scored that was the end of game.
COMMENTATOR: Corner kick.
FEMALE COMMENTATOR: The US definitely is lacking
some size and height without Akers in there on defense.
China had a corner kick in the first overtime.
COMMENTATOR: Off the corner from China...
and as the ball came across,
you know, Bri shifts with the angle,
and I take two steps in to make the goal smaller.
Their player heads there.
COMMENTATOR: Header!
And it's going in.
And then, in my mind I'm like, "Oh, shit."
And then the ball comes back out.
COMMENTATOR: Saved off the line!
Rebound was clear!
The ball was heading for goal.
I turned around and it was Kristine Lilly.
FEMALE COMMENTATOR: Kristine Lilly comes up huge.
Doing what she does.
I remember coming up with Foudy,
and we kind of looked at each other,
thinking like, "Holy cow, did that just happened?"
FOUDY: I remember when the final whistle blew after overtime,
the initial reaction was, like, "Oh, crap."
Bad reaction.
Like, spin it and flip it to something positive
and so we just literally.
I remember all of us getting in the huddle
and being like, "Look at China, they are exhausted."
We had no idea if they were exhausted.
But Bri, her eyes in that penalty kick shootout.
Oh, my...
HAMM: I was confident.
The bigger the stage, the better for her.
Only the best of the best goalkeepers make great saves.
Briana is one of those few goalkeepers.
COMMENTATOR: Briana Scurry, visualizing.
SCURRY: At that moment I know it's on me now.
A singular focus and that is to save one,
It's the only thing that matters
Now, my method of operation
in penalty kicks is very specific.
I don't ever watch the approaching player
who's gonna kick.
But the third kicker...
As I'm walking into the goal,
something told me to look.
COMMENTATOR: Ying will go next.
And her body language spoke volumes to me
in that like three seconds that I watched her.
You could tell like she did not wanna look at Bri.
There was like an edge to her...
"Oh, God, I don't wanna look up."
And I knew that was the one.
[crowd cheering]
COMMENTATOR: The shot-- save Scurry!
[crowd roaring]
SCURRY: I just felt every atom in my body just exploded.
Aah!
[laughing]
And the pumping of the fists
and the stomping of the feet
and the word she gave out...
It was just like,
"Oh, my gosh."
I mean, what else can you say
when you do something like that?
I mean, I saved a penalty kick
in for the 90,000 people.
There's a lot of things you can unpack
from that penalty kick.
And one of them that still comes up
is Briana Scurry cheated.
Only hours after that game ended,
somebody said to me,
did you realize that-- that Scurry left the line early?
And I said, "You gotta be kidding me."
I said "No."
It's a-- it's a decent question,
but the referee was right there.
There's a referee for the goalkeeper on the line,
and there's a referee for the kicker,
and so if the referee had not liked
what I was doing, they would have told me.
But they never said a word.
I will be dead, honest.
You know, she moved forward.
We all know it.
That's what the linesmen are for.
They didn't call it,
it's not my problem.
Okay? [laughing]
You try to take every advantage you can
without breaking the rules
or hurting someone to win.
If that was played today,
they would have retaken that kick,
but we won't talk about that.
Bri's job was not to referee the game.
COMMENTATOR: USA could win the World Cup
on this next kick.
Chastain will take it.
SCURRY: I didn't even know Brandi was coming up to kick,
but I know that this is it.
Don't even think about it,
just like normal, just like practice.
CHASTAIN: That final kick...
It happened in slow motion and it happened so fast.
To striking the ball
and, honestly, feeling like it just went and slow motion
as it went towards the goal.
It's almost like a... [gasps]
Everybody holds their breath, right?
And as soon as it hit the net...
it was this explosion.
[crowd cheering and yelling]
SCURRY: An eruption!
Aah!
Half my team runs to me
and half the team runs to Brandi
and Brandi pulls off her shirt...
- That's it! - Come on!
[overlapping dialogue]
[cheering]
Yeah, you guys!
Yeah!
[cheering]
[sighs]
I mean, you couldn't have written
it any better in Hollywood.
So who slept last night?
- Mia. - [laughing]
I think the importance of '99
is it showed what's possible.
By the way, Bill Clinton doesn't go to the Super Bowl,
[laughing]
I didn't see him at the last World Series,
and he sure didn't come to Nagano for the Olympics,
but he was there yesterday.
Yes, he was.
What that mean to you?
SCURRY: Um, it was huge.
It was great having, um,
the President support us like that.
And it's just outpouring of support that we've had
and-- and he likes the team.
And there's a lot to like about us,
and he definitely showed it.
As much as you want to talk about
the potential and the upside
and what they're missing out on,
it's like, they have to see it in...
flesh and sweat and 110 degree day
in front of 80,000 plus people in the Rose Bowl.
And that, honestly, was the frustrating thing for us.
'Cause we're like, "Yeah, no shit they're here."
We've been telling you this for a decade.
[laughing]
WHAL: You can't undersell how big '99 was.
You know, forget sports.
It was, in my opinion,
the biggest cultural event of the summer of 1999.
[applause]
I might say I saw the last three games
and I concluded that if I had to do it all over again,
I'd like to be a goalie.
[laughing]
No pressure.
Okay, here's the, uh, World Cup championship team.
And this of course, is Brandi Chastain.
This is Mia Hamm right here.
And, ohh, you don't--
you don't play much, do you?
I scored three goals against Denmark, you moron.
- Oh. - [laughing]
They're on Letterman,
they're on the cover of magazines.
I mean, it's all US Women's National Team.
[cheering]
It's probably not surprising
that Chastain, the goal scorer,
with that image of her celebrating
as her teammates come rushing to her,
ends up on the cover of Sports Illustrated
and it's not Briana Scurry,
celebrating making the save,
but you certainly hoped in the aftermath
that maybe Briana Scurry had gotten more attention.
She was the best goalkeeper in the world.
She-- she won the World Cup
she saved-- she made the PK save.
Like--
And I'll be blunt about it.
Any other white goalkeeper that would have done that,
like, would-- [stammering]
It would've been totally different.
I'm sorry. Like, it would've been a different scenario.
It's true.
You know, I-- I've often...
thought that her save was not elevated enough.
My kick is insignificant if she doesn't make a save.
I definitely feel that the fact that Brie was Black,
the fact that Bri was gay
and openly gay, which...
How dare you be openly gay and live your truth?
Uh, back then was
uh, an X in terms of sponsorship, corporates,
sponsorship, uh, media coverage, all of it.
So, absolutely I think that affected
the attention that she got.
I know there should have been more opportunities for Bri.
Um...
And it's sad to say that
because she's such an important part
of our team, of our legacy, of our history
and we wouldn't be where we are today without her.
FOUDY: When you look at how little a diversity we had
and how little it was discussed openly
about your sexuality,
that, like, you know,
I have guilt myself, like, we should've been,
actually, that could've been a moment
where we should've been talking about that more openly
and really pushing society to change.
I mean, I think that's the thing about this national team.
Is-- it's not just about standing on top of podiums.
That's important, right?
And winning is important, yes,
but we're standing on top of podiums
telling the world to get better.
And here's this great opportunity to say,
"Hey, we're showing you what this world should look like."
I'll never really understand why
Briana didn't get her full shine in that moment.
Maybe it's 'cause she's a goalkeeper and
there were always a little bit underappreciated.
Or maybe it's because she's a Black woman,
or maybe a little bit of both,
but I know that in that moment I saw her
and she inspired me and I-- I know I'm not the only
little Black girl who watched her
make us believe that we could achieve it too,
and that moment and what she did for our culture
and for all of us will never be forgotten.
She was a true team player.
Team players don't seek individual notoriety.
Briana did not seek individual notoriety,
that's why she never said anything
about the coverage of the other players
and the lack of coverage for what she had done.
[distant siren wailing]
[sighs]
I haven't been downtown here
because my mom and dad lived 30 miles north.
And this-- to see this here.
Um, after so many years of not having been here before is...
[sighs]
It's-- I'm twisted.
I'm twisted.
Having, you know, high-level athletic talent
at a very young age,
made people not see me as Black
and I-- I got a pass.
Because I was, you know, so good on my basketball team,
so good on my soccer team or my softball team.
You know, "Oh, Bri, she's a great athlete."
"We don't see her as Black."
But I've had more people reach out to me
since George Floyd.
People that I've known for years.
Mostly my white friends,
and at first I thought
it was because of where I lived.
They know I'm from here,
but I don't think that's what it was.
I think it's because it's--
Seeing that...
eight minutes and 46 seconds has really...
penetrated the souls of so many people
in a way that nothing else has before it.
And I think the sad thing is
you have to literally witness it with your own eyes
in order for it to really make you move.
And then I'm just hoping that this time is different.
[sighs]
I really don't know what to think.
[sniffles]
Where's the humanity? Just--
[sniffles]
This is not right.
$20 for fucks sake.
Really?
$20.
[crying]
I'm actually glad my parents aren't alive to see this.
[sniffles]
[birds chirping]
CHASTAIN: In the good times and the bad times,
you have to have people to lean on.
And you have to be able to know that
there are shared experiences--
that there's always going to be someone who will be there.
HAMM: I know when I lost my brother in '97,
how incredible the-- my teammates were
to get me through that.
And when Brandi lost her parents
within, I think, six months of each other...
the team rallied around her.
So to do that for Bri...
was because, you know, we loved her.
WAMBACH: When you spend so much time with human beings
like we do on a team.
Uhm...
And when you all show up together, um,
every single day,
everybody's fighting some sort of battle, right?
And we get to help shoulder some of that battle.
And-- and in this case it was grief.
My father had several issues.
He was diabetic to the point where his kidneys
literally failed and he was on dialysis.
He had his leg amputated below the knee.
He had a stroke right before that,
he had prostate cancer.
He had heart disease
and so when he did pass away
two months before the 2004 Olympics,
that gutted me.
I wanted to physically be there
because I knew his health was declining.
And the odds of it were really slim
that I was going to be there because of traveling so much.
The amazing part, as he was in the hospital,
and I was in Minnesota for a barnstorming tour that we had.
And it just so happened to be
in Blaine, Minnesota at that time.
And so the fact that I was physically in the room
when he passed away was the greatest gift for me.
I was able to be there,
hold his hand to say goodbye to him...
before he passed.
[sighs]
I remember sitting there
along this bedside and just...
holding his hand, and I felt...
[inhales deeply]
you know, I knew that a part of me had died too.
GONZALEZ: Bri's dad passed away in Father's Day,
and I noticed a little bit of more internalization with Bri,
where she just got quieter,
but you could tell that it was actually really
the strength building up in her,
where it's almost like every day
that desire to...
get through this and win
and be the absolute best for him.
Was bubbling up inside of her.
HAMM: I know she-- she found so much joy in playing
and that the pride that her parents had in her
was a lot of the fuel that--
that propelled her to greatness.
SCURRY: The next two months, before the game started
was very tumultuous for me.
I mean, if you think about it
from an emotional standpoint,
you know, you have a gamut of emotions
that you feel on the line.
Going to the Olympic Games
is probably one of the most amazing, exhilarating feelings
and then mourning your father at the same time.
COMMENTATOR: As the pressure builds in Athens,
Miss Scurry very vocal.
[whistle blowing]
But it was very hard
because I would cry through games,
or in the-- in the locker room
or in training and...
I could have had the absolute worst tournament
in in my career.
COMMENTATOR: ...by Chastain, but falls favorably
here's a quick shot, taken off, Scurry!
Another shot blocked,
another shot, save, Scurry!
But I feel like I played my best soccer.
Because my heart was tearing into.
COMMENTATOR: Bri's father unfortunately passed away
this year, of all days, on Father's Day.
She says she feels her dad's presence inside of her.
"He's out there, helping me."
Her ability to take that moment
and turn it into a positive
was remarkable because I knew
that it was not an easy time,
and especially because it was so close
to that Olympics happening.
She chose to write the story of honoring her father
and his love and belief
and all of the challenges he faced
as part of her fuel.
She chose to find a way.
And she did.
COMMENTATOR: That's it, USA have won the gold medal!
[crowd cheering]
[inhales deeply]
I had this picture of me and my mom after
um, with my medal on, and...
[breathes in deeply]
and she's-- she's happy
but she's so tired, you know?
She wasn't going to be able to come to Athens
because my dad was sick
and because he passed she could come.
And...
I mean, I was so happy to have her there, but then...
so heartbroken that she was there
at the same time without him.
[sniffles]
This is the thing about sad feelings and grief
and pain and struggle that people are so repelled by,
but it might be, in fact,
one of the things that makes people so great
because she was finally allowing herself to be fully human.
To experience the full...
experience that humans are supposed to have.
And when we're allowed to be our full selves,
we just do better things.
SCURRY: I think what was interesting about
that tournament was I had to deal with so much going on.
You know, the feeling
of being at the Olympic Games again
and the amazing feelings of that.
Morning that my father passed away,
but I also was feeling something new
and I was, you know, starting to fall in love with Naomi
who was the massage therapist for the team at the time.
When I met Bri in 2004,
you know, she'd always had an incredible career
and she was this larger-than-life figure
and just intense and strong personality
and she was never shy about who she was as a human being.
The fact, obviously, she's a Black woman,
um, and she was gay.
SCURRY: When I was, probably, junior high-ish,
I remember having feelings and thoughts
about one of my friends who's a male.
And then I remember having feelings and thoughts
and dreams about one of my teammates who was a female
and I didn't-- I didn't have a real problem
with both of those thoughts in my head at the same time,
and I always felt like I was meant to be who I am.
[crowd cheering]
After the '99 World Cup,
there's video of me running into the stands
to kiss my girlfriend at the time,
and the camera follows me up there
and it turns away.
Well, there were 90,000 people in the stands
and I didn't care what anyone thought of what I was doing.
I was going to her,
that's just who I was and
I was going to do whatever it was I was meant to do
and my parents were very supportive
of everything I ever did.
GORDON: I think, in our family,
the biggest thing is you live your truth.
My grandma was big about that, like, just be you.
You can't be all these other people
everybody wants you to be
one of the things she told me is that,
in her belief in God,
that if I turned my child away
because someone they love,
what's gonna happen to me as a parent?
And I thought that was, like,
the most powerful thing I ever heard.
I can't make her decisions in who she loves.
It shouldn't matter.
I love them and I love her.
WAMBACH: She was, and is, kind of a person
who is breaking these barriers,
but she's not out breaking doors down.
She's just like living her life.
And being another gay person in a public world
on what is perceived to be
the most straight team on the planet.
Like, white and straight.
And here we are this like badass Black woman who is also queer.
LINEHAN: We talk about the girls next door, right?
And that was really the presentation of that team
and not necessarily via them, even, right?
But that's kind of the perception of that team
and Scurry never necessarily fit that mold, right?
And I think that's honestly a good thing.
As a queer woman working in women's soccer,
she was really one of the first people
that I looked at and said,
"Okay, there's an element there that I understand."
What she did for the national team around that
was get the world ready for people like me.
Um, for people like Megan Rapinoe,
to step in and...
"Megan Rapinoe it."
GONZALEZ: The first time I met Bri was because she signed up
to get a massage from me
and it's where I saw this whole other side of Bri
that was so different.
She just was so calm and graceful and kind.
Just this never ending enthusiasm and-- and, you know,
glass is always half full kind of attitude.
And so Briana and I had gotten together at that point
and I invited her to live with me in San Francisco.
Bri was learning that soccer's important,
The US Women's National Team is a huge part of her life.
But those things were no longer the only things in her life.
In the end, like, we also have to go home
at the end of the night and
I think she was trying to develop that skill,
'cause the end was a little bit nearer for her.
GONZALEZ: She wasn't fully done with soccer.
But there was just an element of...
I don't know what exactly what I want to do next.
SCURRY: In my heart, I struggled emotionally with
whether I wanted to play anymore
and I actually took a job as a bank teller
at First Republic for two weeks.
And then I realized that that was absurd.
[laughing]
But I tried, I-- I was thinking about doing other things.
Sometime in 2007,
Bri got called to do some games with the US National Team again,
and so we moved to LA.
And she worked her ass off to
play at the top of her game again.
In the 2007 Women's World Cup,
the unquestioned starter heading into the tournament
was Hope Solo,
out of the University of Washington.
SCURRY:or me, I had a very difficult year
just trying to be supportive,
trying to be a great teammate for Hope,
who had been playing most of the time.
And I remember distinctly sitting next to her bedside
when she found out a few months earlier
that her father had passed away.
And essentially holding her hand and crying with her.
Because I understood what that felt like
because my dad had died three years earlier
and so I knew that was a really heavy thing and I...
wanted to be there for her and support her.
GONZALEZ: It was particularly stressful because...
not having played any games,
you know it's tough to come in as a goalkeeper,
Have the rhythm in playing
uh, that you would expect to have
when you're doing it every day.
But Bri was gonna do whatever the coach said.
And then, out of nowhere,
for the semifinal against Brazil,
Greg Ryan, the national team coach,
announces that Hope Solo is not going to start this game.
Briana Scurry is going to start this game.
COMMENTATOR: Despite the fact that Hope Solo
allowed only two goals against North Korea in the opener
and has three consecutive shutouts,
coach Greg Ryan decided Briana Scurry
is better suited to face Brazil.
I keep watching Briana training every day.
I see what her form's like and it's fantastic,
and I think she's the goalie for this game.
Greg Ryan thought he would make a change with me
because I had had a very solid training
leading up to that point.
And also, I had a great record against Brazil.
I think I was 10-0.
I found out last night that I was gonna play
and I'm really excited about it
and I-- and I think it's gonna be a great game
and, uh, I'm confident that my team will--
will put on a good show.
And so when Greg made the decision to play me,
I was really excited
and thought for sure that she was supporting me
uh, um, and unfortunately she did not.
I'm not happy with it, not one bit.
Um, but it is the coach's decision
and I have to deal with it and I have to be there for my team.
They're gonna need me.
They're gonna need all 21 players.
Playing in a World Cup
in any situation, is-- is very difficult.
Playing against a team like Brazil.
I mean, you almost have to be essentially perfect.
[crowd cheering]
But I felt very strongly that I could do the job
and that I was the one called upon
and I felt strong and confident.
But I mean, I had the world come against me.
Hey, I love Briana Scurry,
I coached her for many years
and she's a great goalkeeper.
But if there isn't a goalkeeper controversy,
why make one?
COMMENTATOR: There is Briana Scurry, 36 now,
and there is the girl she replaced, Hope Solo,
bitterly disappointed to be left out,
having conceded a goal in the last three matches.
SCURRY: And so it wasn't just
a discussion among the team
that we had to deal with,
now it was, literally, an incident in the media.
And it was because she made it one
and I felt very upset.
and very angry because I didn't feel like I got a fair shot
at doing what I was asked to do by a coach.
COMMENTATOR: Brazil on attack here,
they're three up into the area...
Marta!
And it's 2-0 Brazil!
And the goalkeeper Scurry,
on whom the coach gambled,
is definitely at fault.
It was-- it was hard.
It was hard to sit in the stands and hear...
Um, some of Hope's family bashing Bri.
You know, actively rooting against the US,
because Hope wasn't in-- in goal.
COMMENTATOR: It's a cross to Cristiane.
Is this the moment to finish it?
Yes, she does!
GONZALES: I've never heard that before, I think, prior to that.
Like, it's like, who the fuck does that?
[laughing]
SCURRY: Unfortunately, in that game,
I had one of the worst losses
I've ever had in my career,
and I felt like my heart had been torn out.
Typically, players who don't play in the game
don't stop and answer questions.
That doesn't mean they can't.
And so, it was perfectly within the rights of a journalist
to ask Hope Solo what she thought,
and it was perfectly within the rights of Hope Solo
to say what she thought.
And she had some thoughts.
It was the wrong decision and I think anybody that knows
anything about the game knows that.
Um...
There's no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves
and the fact of the matter is
it's not 2004 anymore.
It doesn't matter what somebody did
in the Olympics three years ago.
Now is what matters, and that's what I think.
She thought the US would have done much better
with her in goal.
She said that she would have made the saves.
Which, at that point, becomes a direct shot at Briana Scurry.
It was horrible. [sighs]
It was horrible and, probably, most horrible for Bri
because you have a, player, a teammate
who says "I would have made those saves."
Um...
Now, whether Hope is right or-- or not,
is totally irrelevant.
Like, the game is over
and none of it, right, was Bri's fault.
Like, she didn't decide
to put herself in the goal,
she didn't decide to bench Hope,
she didn't decide any of those things.
Hope...
broke the team code
and talked to the media
even though she hadn't played.
Basically threw Bri under the bus
and her team under the bus.
I think it was a bit of
a come-to-Jesus moment for the team,
that nothing was ever really gonna be exactly the same again
after that moment
and a certain element of trust had been broken.
SCURRY: For me, I was just devastated.
Not only by the game,
but by how she handled herself,
and I felt like she betrayed me.
I cried with her.
And I felt betrayed by her.
And so it took me a long time to get past it.
What's been so beautiful about Bri
is I don't think that I'm, like, heard her....
talk about it.
I-- I actually don't know
her take on that situation,
but it just kind of speaks to the professionalism
that she maintained
through the course of her career that she wasn't gonna--
She wasn't gonna stoop to any low.
Um, for any kind of...
fame or whatever.
SCURRY: Fortunately, time does heal.
And I feel like I have gone into that room
and swept... the floors
and I've decided to open the--
open the drapes and let the sun in.
And I feel like, because I was able to do that,
that I was truly over it
and that I had forgiven her
and I did that not for her but for me.
♪
HACKER: Every athlete is going to end their career.
They're going to end their career.
Now the question is,
are you going to end it on your terms
or on someone else's terms
or on terms out of your control?
COFFEY: In 2009, Bride wasn't really ready to retire.
She still thought she had goalkeeping left in her
and her agent got her a contract
with the Washington Freedom,
in WPS, Women's Professional Soccer.
The second incarnation
of women's pro soccer in the country.
WAMBACH: I remember her coming on to the Freedom
and feeling like, "Okay, like,
"we're going to concede fewer goals
now that Bri's here."
And this is back when women's professional soccer
was very low budget
and she was just such a professional.
She came, she did her freaking job every day.
COFFEY: The team traveled to Philadelphia
to play a game April 26, 2010
and Bri was in goal against Philadelphia.
SCURRY: Earlier that afternoon in the hotel
I had a weird feeling about that game.
And, obviously, I didn't know at the time what that meant,
but I tried to ignore
that weird feeling I had that day.
Okay.
[sniffles]
It's been a while since I've seen that.
[laughing]
From outside of it,
it doesn't look like much of anything at all.
I mean the referee didn't even blow the whistle
and didn't call a foul
because it didn't seem like it was really that much to it.
But if you look at it from my point of view.
The fact that I didn't see her coming,
that's what actually does the damage.
After that hit there was a few more minutes
left than that half, and I continued through the half.
But at halftime, my trainer started to walk out towards me
and I'm walking towards her,
kind of going sideways like this
and she met me out there
and she's like, "Are you okay?"
And I immediately told her, "No."
I had been concussed before.
Several times with the national team,
a couple of them documented.
But never felt that way.
Like, it was almost like it came in waves.
I had a few symptoms the first hour
and then later on I had a couple more
and then I started to feel--
It was almost like I was cascading and
tumbling into an abyss.
Where things were unhinging from me.
Almost like I was drifting.
With no charge or no feeling of anything.
And I knew I'd have a really hard time coming back from that.
And so season ending just became career ending.
WAMBACH: As we all know, we all retire.
But in my mind, at this point, like,
Bri was unbreakable.
I mean, she-- like she, was never a worry
that, like, Bri would ever
not be okay, but the way
that professional sports unfortunately are built
is, um, you're healthy and you're playing,
you're in the community, and if you're not,
you're probably out.
And when it comes to something like this, um...
I just remember...
Honestly, it was almost as if she kind of faded away.
[waves crashing]
GONZALEZ: Her life changed dramatically
once she had that concussion.
Chronic migraines, difficulty focusing,
difficulty reading,
performing simple math...
um, being able to--
to stand more than a few hours a day.
It was a full handicap.
A full, um, disability
and what was challenging
and-- and horrifying and--
um, was that no one knew when it would end.
Especially not her.
All of my testing and all of the doctors that saw me
kept saying, "Oh, you should be fine by now."
"You should be okay by now."
And then the real battle began
with who is going to pay for what
and how I was going to get better
and whether anybody would believe me
that I could get better.
- Look at that butt! - Whatever...
Baby's got back!
WOMAN: Are you talking about yourself?
- Yeah! - [laughing]
Pre concussion Bri was a woman with extraordinary confidence.
A joy and a zest for life.
- MAN: I really wanted-- - That was a good one, Danny.
- WOMAN: No, it wasn't. - Give it, Danny.
- [man chuckles] - Pull your pants up.
GONZALEZ: There was this element of calmness
and quiet confidence
and determination that was unbreakable.
Post-concussion Bri...
uh, was a shell of her former self.
It was almost like quiet internal desperation.
That's seeped out of her
because there was no seeming fix.
And there was no seeming end to that.
And it was-- it was horrible.
It was horrible for her
and it was horrible to witness
the change in-- in this person
that I that I deeply loved.
I think the hardest thing for me is I didn't realize
she was going through all of this.
I remember specifically the 2011 World Cup,
which ESPN was covering
and we were traveling in Germany, a bunch of us,
so Brandi myself...
And Bri was part of that studio group
and I remember saying to Brandi all the time.
Hey, where's Bri?
Like, "I haven't seen Bri."
And Brandi was like,
"Yeah, I know, I can't get her to come out."
"Like,, she's-- she's been oddly in her room
"just a little bit isolated."
And-- and I regret, looking back,
not like, sitting her down, and being like, "What's up?"
You know, something was not right.
It just wasn't, it wasn't--
It wasn't her.
Okay.
[chuckling]
I remember this.
[sighs]
Wow.
SCURRY: The way it manifested itself emotionally
is I started to withdraw.
From my friends who cared about me,
my teammates didn't know the hell I was in.
I mean, I lived in a little studio apartment
and I really, really struggled.
To even wake up every morning.
This is a little bit bigger than I remember.
I was self-medicating,
with alcohol and Vicodin,
and trying to find relief somehow, someway.
And my greatest achievement
was going on a walk every day.
I just, basically, you know,
withdrew from everyone and it was just--
That was all I could really bring myself to do.
This is the same couch.
I remember this couch.
This was my couch,
where I used to lay down with my headaches
right here and watch TV.
Wow.
[sighs]
I know now that....
that was the concussion.
But I didn't understand it.
The emotional side of it
and how it isolates and
how you could feel like...
You're not worthy.
And that's really what I felt like, I felt unworthy.
[sniffles]
Okay.
That's enough.
This slide was so... dark.
I didn't want to drag anyone down with me.
[crying]
Bri and I broke up in about 2010
and in 2011 I moved to Seattle.
I had met this incredible woman, Fran Dunaway,
who I just knew that I had found.
The-- the love of my life
and I had to go, and
it was heartbreaking and it was horrible.
♪
SCURRY: It was just so hard.
I had so many different fronts I was trying to fight.
I could get a procedure done
that was experimental that was gonna work for me.
And the insurance company didn't want to have to pay for it
because they don't want to have to pay for anything.
My disability payments,
sometimes they wouldn't send it.
I was really struggling with being able
to make my rent and my electric bills on time
sinking deeper and deeper and deeper in debt to my landlord.
I couldn't continue that way
because I knew, eventually,
I was gonna either have to be homeless
or go back to live with my mom.
Which I definitely didn't want to do at the time.
One day I was watching TV and this advertisement
from this company called Boro came on the TV.
It was like 2:00 in the morning.
And they said that they could give you loans
against, you know, valuables,
And I contemplated it
for a while.
And then I thought,
the only thing of value that I have is my medals.
And that made me feel sick.
But I knew I had to do something.
[distant cheering]
[sighs]
I was so heartbroken
that I was even in this position I was in.
I felt I was betraying...
the time and...
the effort and the love of my parents.
But I just felt like I did what I had to do.
And it crushed me.
And absolutely crushed.
These thoughts they come and
each day that goes
and weeks turn into months, into years.
It's just--
It chips away at you.
It's like the waves crashing on the beach.
It just erodes you
and you wonder if it's worth it to get up again.
The intensity of the thoughts of killing myself
would come like-- some would come
where I, maybe, somehow get hit by a train.
Some would come where I would be in a dumpster with a gun.
Why would I put myself in a dumpster?
I'm not garbage.
So I had the thought to...
jump off the bridge near my house and...
out of nowhere, thank goodness,
"Bri, somebody would have to tell your mom
and your mom would be broken."
"Knowing that you were no longer here,
that you killed yourself."
The last time I had a thought.
That completely changed it.
I am not doing this
as long as my mom is alive.
And then thank goodness I got enough rope
to get out of that fucking pit.
Excuse my French.
Early enough before she passed away
that I didn't have thoughts like that anymore.
Because it was really deep in there.
When Fran and I started our company in Seattle in 2013
after we had a small proof of concept,
we knew that we had to go out and raise some money,
and so we went to DC
and I met with a couple of influential women.
And Chryssa Zizos was one of them.
ZIZOS: The first time I ever heard of Briana Scurry
was when I was with Fran and Naomi here in Alexandria.
I was having dinner with them
and they shared with me a little bit about Bri
and her concussion
and she was trying to convince me
why I should take it on as a pro bono case
and help her, um, with her PR
and to raise visibility for her concussion.
You know, I just recognized
that Chryssa had these incredible, um, PR skills
and just really liking her and her energy.
Just thought, "You know, this would be someone really,
really interesting for Bri to get to know."
I'm not, like, a super soccer fan
um, and I tried to convince Naomi
that she was pronouncing her name wrong.
[laughing]
And she-- she said, "No, I'm pretty sure, um,
I-- I know I'm pronouncing it correctly."
After it got back to Seattle,
I called Bri and I was, like, "Hey, you know, Bri
"You gotta call Chryssa,
like, "this woman could-- could change your life."
And she's like, "Yeah, okay, sure."
Well, I called her three days later.
And I was, like, "Bri, did you call Chryssa?"
I was dragging my feet about it
and Naomi said to me
in a way that she had never said to me before,
"Bri, if you don't call her,
I won't speak to you ever again."
and she meant it.
Lo and behold, a couple days later,
Bri texted and she's like,.
"I called Chryssa."
I remember when I got her first email,
I thought, "Oh, gosh."
I just-- I knew I didn't have the time for this
and I remember thinking to myself.
I'm not gonna give her more than 15 or 20 minutes.
And then we got on the phone
and I just remember being completely captivated by her.
In the lead up to talking to Chryssa,
Naomi said, "Just tell her everything."
"I-- I really feel she can help you."
And I was like, "Okay."
She had this profound concussion
and the fact that US Soccer wasn't stepping up
to help her in any kind of way,
and that the league that she was playing for
had folded and that the insurance company
was-- was giving her such a hell of a time.
All of that seemed so unjust and unfair to me.
And by the end I was-- I was completely hooked
on her story and was willing to help her.
[indistinct chatter]
[beeping]
GONZALEZ: You know, it'd been such a fight
for three long years,
um, and a lot of times it felt like she was
getting absolutely nowhere.
[heart monitor beeping]
And it's discouraging, because it's like,
"Well, what do you do?"
She didn't have a ton of support from the team
or the medical staff
or insurance providers.
It was sort of like-- it felt like they had written her off.
[heart monitor beeping]
I think Bri desperately wanted her health to be better
and wanted her life to be back,
but I don't think she knew how to get it back
and I think she was inching to defeat.
SCURRY: I met Chryssa at a time
when there was no light for me.
I was struggling with the insurance company
to do the right thing.
And, fortunately for me, she really was an angel.
DOCTOR: I'm trying this so you don't shave the head.
- Oh, okay. - So you're lucky today.
[laughing] I'm lucky.
I knew that if we elevated exposure
on this in the media
about Bri's concussion
and the fact that she was this legendary athlete
and she had to have this surgery done,
the insurance company would cave.
And literally it was just the threat
of these articles coming out
that they weren't willing to do this for Briana Scurry.
[snapping fingers] They dropped immediately.
Then I met Briana, the first time.
My sixth sense was that I can help her.
What struck me was the extent of the pain
and the quality of life and
the concern that the treatment she tried that far
did not, unfortunately, managed to
help her resolve her problems.
If Briana presented to me 10 years later,
I might have just helped her 10, 20%.
Not the extent I helped.
After that, I mean, every visit was basically
better and I could see her eyes were happier.
She had-- she had actually
much more life in her eyes
than when I saw her first time.
When Bri got out of the surgery,
uh, the sitting I was, like,
I'm one side of the bed
and Chryssa was on the other side of the bed
and she opens her eyes.
And she has this little smile.
And she's like, "I don't feel the pain."
The light come back in her face.
I hadn't seen that in, like, three years.
Rolling Bri out of that hospital...
It almost felt like she had just won another medal
because it was such a big deal
and she was back.
She just went through the depths of hell
and she's coming out on the other side.
And I'm so appreciative of-- of Chryssa
for-- for the joy that she's brought
into-- into Bri's life.
When you meet someone who is that successful
in business, she's methodical.
She's organized,
she's very systematic with what she does,
and so, because of that,
she helped me, essentially,
put the pieces back together in my career,
and it's all because of her.
One day Chryssa asked me.
So where are your medals at?
And originally I lied and said my mom has them.
No one knew about that.
I could maybe believe that for a second
and I said, "Why are they at your mom's house?"
And she said, "Well, I want her to remember me."
And, you know,
I hear a lot of stories in my line of business.
[laughing]
And it-- you know, if it was just the words
or if I was reading them,
I might have gone there with her,
but I could just tell she started fidgeting
and she didn't have direct eye contact with me.
So I said to her, "Great,"
I said, "Then we're going to buy a ticket right now,
and let's go this afternoon."
And I was like, "Oh."
And my heart started to beat literally out of my chest.
And I knew that was because...
I thought, "I'm gonna to tell her."
"This is happening because I'm supposed to tell her."
I knew that.
And she didn't judge me.
She didn't judge me.
She was...
So kind and gentle
and she just said, "Okay, how do we get 'em back?"
I said to her-- I said, "Okay."
And I think it was, like, a Saturday
when that happened and I said,
"On Monday you call them.
"You get how much you owe
"and the first day they're available
"we're going to go get them.
And she just looked at me and she goes,
"I don't have-- I don't have the money to go get them."
And I said, "I know, but I do."
We went there.
And we brought a check.
And got those medals back.
And she never once judged me.
Never.
That's when I knew I was in good hands.
[sniffles]
MAN: Now Briana Scurry appreciate you being here
and you are recognized for five minutes.
SCURRY: Thank you very much.
My name is Briana Scurry and I'm 42 years old.
I served at the starting goalkeeper--
SCURRY: When I was finally able to get out of that pit
and have it in my rearview mirror,
I started talking about it.
It was very therapeutic for me.
SCURRY: Today, I'm here before you
to share my new mission with you.
To provide a new face and voice
to those who have had and may suffer
the long and difficult recovery
of a devastating traumatic brain injury,
a concussion.
ZIZOS: We were able to really
elevate her exposure
as a concussion advocate
and it matched perfectly
because it was authentic and it was genuine
and she lived it.
This disease has affected my life
in a very meaningful way...
Which made her a natural spokesperson
for concussion awareness.
There are differences between...
ZIZOS: And for Bri, for her sense of self,
I think that that's been profoundly important
to her rehabilitation.
You control you.
And if you harness that and you understand that,
and you realize that, you can get there,
wherever your there may be.
[applause]
ZIZOS: When I first started working with Bri,
to book speaking engagements.
I had to give Bri away for free
for the entire first year.
People weren't willing to-- to pay her.
They had sort of forgotten about her
and who she was.
And I lied to her
and told her that--
that they were paying small fees.
And then I just I paid them out of my own pocket.
I knew that she had to work out
her emotional messaging
before we could start getting paid for those opportunities.
All these years later,
we're saying no to opportunities
and we've increased her fee.
Oh, my goodness,
she's the highest paid speaker
that we work with now.
ANNOUNCER: She's a World Cup champion
and Olympic gold medalist.
Briana Scurry!
[applause]
What I've learned about Bri
is that she's got a champion's spirit.
I mean, I haven't found anything that the woman can't do.
I mean, I not even acting.
She probably is gonna still have a great shot in front...
DIRECTOR: In three, two...
ANCHOR: US Soccer Hall of Fame and, full disclosure,
Washington Spirit investor
we have to make sure that we say that--
EDU: Staying within the game,
being a part of the ownership group.
These are things that you-- you don't see
too many Black females doing in in this sport.
Instead of just moving on,
she said, I'm going to give back
and try to help grow this game that I care so much about.
Precedents that set for all young kids coming
is amazing.
That this is possible.
That being a part of this
isn't just the 1%.
No, this is us.
We're just like anybody else.
We were kids that grew up playing soccer
and now here we are, owning teams.
Are you gonna be at this game?
Definitely gonna be there.
SCURRY: One of the things that I've learned
since playing, is just to be open.
The universe can bring you things
way beyond what you can expect,
and I genuinely feel that that's what I'm doing.
I'm really excited to see how-- how it all unfolds.
Bri always knew that she would have
a next level of success after soccer.
She wasn't always clear on exactly what that would be.
But in Chryssa she's had someone
that can help support her and ground her
and give her a vision
for all the possibilities that exist out there.
You know, I've never had played that role before,
where it was both professional and personal,
and once we started working in more of an expanded role,
um, and we started spending more time together.
You know, I found myself more interested and I--
"I wonder what she's doing," and I'd give her a call.
You know, I never do that with any other clients.
[laughing]
There was something, uh, special there
that developed overtime
and I remember the first time we told Naomi
that our relationship had changed
from only professional to personal
and she is like, "Get out!"
[laughing]
I was like, "Yes!"
[laughing]
WOMAN: When you care about somebody,
you want them happy
CHRYSSA: If that's what you want.
[grinder whirring]
I didn't want her to just be soccer, soccer, soccer.
I wanted her to have a life.
[whisking eggs]
[chattering and laughing]
And have people in it.
MAN: Really?
You know? And now she does.
ANDREW: I'm not judging, really.
[laughing]
SCURRY: Of course, you're not judging, dude,
I'm not judging, but I am judging.
You're not judging, but you're judging a little bit.
- [laughing] - I don't know.
That sounded a little judgy.
Chryssa, I love her.
I do, um...
[laughing]
I feel like her having Chryssa--
She adds something to her, a little bit.
Like, some light.
SCURRY: I never expected to be a parent,
it just wasn't something that I thought about a whole lot.
But when I started to fall in love with Chryssa,
I knew that it was a package deal.
And so having Andrew and Sydney in my life
is absolutely amazing.
"Bri probably cried a lot today or yesterday."
And we were like, "Yeah."
[laughing]
I think that's one of the areas
that was carved out when Chryssa came into my life.
Uh, the capacity to-- to be a mom.
ZIZOS: I don't think anything has made her happier
than being a stepmom
or a "bonus mom" as the kids call her.
And that's how they refer to her,
that's how they think about her.
She's not trying to replace anyone,
she just really sees herself as being a bonus.
So if you ask where we go from here?
I mean, I think,
wherever we want.
[applause]
SCURRY: Ooh, good evening.
It's a really great honor for me to be here.
I am...
um, overjoyed. I'm overflowing.
HACKER: Bri's story is an epic story.
Where the future wasn't known
and the struggle was profound.
SCURRY:y career has always been peaks and valleys.
There's no in between.
I'm either riding high on the top of the mountain.
Or I am crashing in the bottom.
And you know what? That's okay.
Because in the bottom is where you figure out
what you're made of...
and you figure out who your friends are
and what you have inside of you.
[applause]
WAMBACH: I just remember somebody
who helped me fortify myself.
There is reasons why I felt confidence,
and it's because Bri was unapologetic
and she wasn't going to ever worry about what
the world thought of her.
She's just so steady in that sense,
and that's what you want in a teammate.
You want them to be a great human.
- [laughing] - No.
As for her legacy, she changed the position.
Full stop.
I--I mean, she's a pioneer
in every sense of the word.
FEMALE COMMENTATOR: And there it is!
This team of destiny from Washington DC,
now stands as NWSL champions!
DORRANCE: Look at the legacy that she left,
not just as a goalkeeper but as a human being.
[cheering]
That was an incredible gift
she's given this country.
[fireworks exploding]
And she hasn't stopped.
- [cheering] - [fireworks exploding]
She has shown so many other young girls like her...
Wow, amazing. [laughing]
ZIZOS: Congratulations.
that there is space in sport for them too.
Everything you do in life, there's a moment
that affects the next and all these moments
lead up to where we are.
And you were my hero
and I just remembered...
I definitely can say that I am here today
as a professional soccer player because of her.
She made me believe I could do it.
She is an emblem of that culture
and that perspective that you still see today
when anyone takes the field.
When you see all these little girls
that are inspired by her, like, that's amazing.
But, then I feel, like, if I'm too proud,
I didn't think she could do it,
but I already knew it.
I'm just happy everybody else got to see it.
WEBBER: She is such a part of my life
and such a part of my soccer history
that I couldn't have imagined
those years with anybody else.
And that's what people maybe don't know
about her off the field.
It's just what an incredible human she is.
And this gift that she is.
WAMBACH: She is a special person and it's because
of her Black queerness,
not in spite of it.
HAMM: For anyone who thinks they're a competitor
you haven't met Briana Scurry.
[chuckles]
GONZALEZ: Who Bri is today
is just one of the strongest
human beings I've ever met.
[laughing]
To have gone through so many ups and downs
with someone, to have that history,
it's like I have this guardian
and she has that in me as well.
And it's such an incredibly fulfilling friendship
that I treasure with-- with all my heart.
You know, so many people think that I saved her,
but the truth is,
you know, she saved me in a lot of ways too.
I don't know about all of her successes.
I don't know what kind of athlete she is.
I don't know what kind of teammate she is.
I meet her in 2013,
when she says it's her darkest hour
and I still think she's one of the neatest people
I've ever met in my life
and I get to see that person every single day.
SCURRY: I like to consider myself
someone who has great depth, emotionally,
my capacity to love and to feel and to understand.
But Chryssa coming into my life,
literally, like, multiply it in so many different ways.
And in my mind,
I always felt like she came into my life
at exactly the right time
and helped me learn how to live again.