Flat-Out Fantastic

They kicked! They scored! They won the World Cup and showed everyone how strong a women's team can be

We've already won," declared Hank Steinbrecher, the general secretary of U.S. Soccer, even before the American women's team's draining, dramatic penalty-kick shoot-out win over China on Saturday, "no matter what the score is going to be." But when defender Brandi Chastain blasted the team's fifth penalty kick past Chinese goalkeeper Gao Hong after 120 scoreless minutes, including two overtime periods, the American put a fitting exclamation point on a summer of soccer that had swept the nation off its feet. And then, before more than 90,000 screaming fans, including President Clinton, she whipped off her shirt in celebration--hey, her name is...

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