Milbrett No Longer Shackled by Nerves
When last spotted on a soccer field, Tiffeny Milbrett was face down on the Giants Stadium turf, wearing Danish cleat marks on her knees and thighs and Danish bruises everywhere else.
Suffice to say the U.S. striker, the team’s top goal scorer this year, had a rough time in Saturday’s 3-0 American victory, often appearing the target of fouls by Denmark.
But that didn’t bother her. It was nerves that did.
“In the first half, I wasn’t myself, I was a little off, I was very nervous,” Milbrett said Tuesday. “That game was incredible, stepping on that field and starting [in front of 78,972 fans]. It just took me the whole first half to run off the nerves.
“All along, I’ve been saying, ‘There’s no pressure, we don’t feel any pressure,’ but you don’t know what you feel until that exact time. Right when that whistle blows and the play begins, that’s when you feel it. Your legs, you can’t move. It’s like the deer-stuck-in-headlights syndrome.
“Sure, there were times I got hammered. Normally, I would have been sharp and quick [enough to elude crude tackles and harsh fouls].
“I hope my stock has gone up and I hope they [opponents] make it tougher for me to do my job. I respect that. I just know I wasn’t myself completely that first half. But I’m so excited for Thursday. I know I’m going to be a different player and the team’s going to be a different team.”
In other words, Nigeria has been warned.
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U.S. Coach Tony DiCicco was asked during a magazine interview Tuesday about a recent issue of Gear magazine in which Brandi Chastain appears wearing little more than a soccer ball.
He gulped, smiled and said, “Well, you know, Brandi is Brandi. I think, um, from, um, her vantage point she was trying to show women in, um, in their power, um, you know, their physical, um, beauty, but from an athletic standpoint.
“I think it was, um, interesting. But, I tell you what, you’ve got to know Brandi. Brandi’s got as big a heart as anyone on this team and she’d never do anything to undermine how this team is viewed.
“And I don’t think that did. I think she kept it in a context that did promote women as fit, athletic, strong and still beautiful.”
It also got Chastain, who is 30, married, a former world champion, an Olympic gold medalist and one of the best attack-minded defenders in world, onto “The Late Show With David Letterman.”
There, Letterman showed America the photo in question.
No one can claim that Chastain hasn’t gotten the Women’s World Cup a little, um, exposure.
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Doug Logan, Major League Soccer commissioner, spoke Tuesday about a potential women’s professional league.
“We give all the encouragement in the world to those putting together plans/business objectives. . . . We will not be taking part in it; we see ourselves in a complementary role. . . .
“We have more than enough on our plate at this time establishing men’s first-division soccer in this country. . . . We will not lose sight of that goal.”
But?
“If there is a way for us to play a role in the future and a plan, an effective plan that has rationality to it, we will weigh that and participate in due course.”
WMLS, anyone?
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Conventional logic before World Cup ’99 had the U.S. playing Brazil in the quarterfinals and Germany in the semifinals. Or vice versa. Now, Italy has entered the equation because of its 1-1 tie with Germany.
“In some ways, they [the Italians] are kind of in the driver’s seat,” DiCicco said Tuesday. “Because they play Mexico last. If they get a point [Thursday against Brazil in Chicago], they’re in [the quarterfinals]. I mean, they’d have to have a total collapse not to be in. And they’re very good at getting a point. If they do, they’re in and either Brazil or Germany is out.”
Not that that is necessarily a good thing.
“Italy would be a tough challenge for us,” DiCicco said. But not for the U.S. recently. The Americans have not lost to the Italians since 1988 and have shut them out in their last four meetings.
