The Girls of Summer: The U.S. Women's Soccer Team and How It Changed the World

by Jere Longman

Now with a new afterword, The Girls of Summer, by the award- winning New York Times sportswriter Jere Longman, takes a serious, compelling look at the women who won the 1999 World Cup and brings to life the skills and victories of the American team. Longman explores the issues this unprecedented achievement has the importance of the players as role models; the significance of race and class; the sexualization of the team members; and the differences between men and women's sports. Provocative and insightful, this book reminds us that the real struggles are off the field -- and some remain to be won.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Soccer, History, Biography

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Bill Bookworm]

Well reported and interesting subject but the author tried to squeeze too much book out of too little content. We were constantly diving deep into the backstories of every single person involved which was interesting at times but it got bogged down in all that. If I could give half stars this would be a 3.5

[Katie Davis]

Arguably one of the most well written books I’ve ever read. Beautiful story telling, with each chapter focusing on a different player on the ‘99 WWC team. Very long and a bit repetitive, though.

Quote: “They believed in the invisible days, when no one came to see them but their parents, when they lived on candy bars in China and did not have running water in Haiti. They believed when the doubters told them they could never fill giant stadiums for the World Cup. They believed when Michelle Akers went out and the final distilled itself to penalty kicks. They believed when the American soccer federation told them they did not deserve to be paid as much as the men. They believed and they stuck together and they won because they would not accept anything less than victory.”

😭

[Me Abpa the Reader]

This autor is exceptionally great.

[Kim. E.]

July 10, 1999. 90,185 fans in the stands and over 40 million on television. One hundred and five degrees on the field after regulation, and two overtime periods it all came down to penalty kicks in a stadium that went silent.

My daughter begged me for three years to start playing soccer (beginning at age 3) before I finally relented. She also played softball, basketball, ran track, and played football, but even at that age she knew where her true love resided. After my years of reluctance by the time of this game we were both jumping up and down screaming in joy in our living room. One of my favorite memories is taking her a couple months later to another stadium that was over 100 degrees in the shade as she stood within feet of not only her all time favorite female player still to date, but also to meet many of the other players from the other countries during this victory tour.

Author Jere Longman does an excellent service to not only the specifics of that one pinnacle game, but offers a journey mixed throughout of the years leading up to this game, insight into the personalities and lives of each of the players and coaches, and the travails of traveling to other countries in the early years of women's soccer when they were afraid to sleep without their shoes on or how they learned to carry the intensity needed to win this World Cup.

[Nora T E]

Tenacity. Ferocity. Bewildering power. The top 3 traits that describe the robust women of the U.S Soccer Team. Soccer legends such as Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, and Brianna Scurry were on the team that changed the world. Their power guided them to have influence on young minds of the world. The sacrifice, determination, and persistence paid them back. They got to have the rest of the world reflecting on their individual choices and changing the world. This book has remarkable stories of the influential women on the U.S Soccer team and their successes. Yet, even with those, they had everything but covert. Maybe that's the strategy everyone else should use. Don't plan things in life. Go with the flow and just see what happens.

[Rachel Kauflin]

An enjoyable enough account of the USA victory in the 1999 World Cup! I think this could have been more of a slam dunk for me if the storytelling was somewhat more linear with telling more about the buildup to the World Cup instead of just the final game. Plus, it would be interesting to hear this writer’s take on the state of women’s sport a few years down the road, since this book was written in 2000 so it’s just a snapshot of the World Cup and can’t speak to the legacy involved.

[lstraw]

World Cup!!! I love the World Cup. It's seriously one of the single greatest sports tournaments of all time. I look forward to it so much, and I'm always just listless when it's over. There's just something so magical about summertime international football - I love the Euros, too. And the best part is, the women's World Cup is next summer, then men's Euros, then women's Euros. I get major international tournaments every single summer, because I love sports. Because I love ALL sports. Because only a bum would say that the women's tournaments "just aren't as exciting." Hopefully, that helps to explain why I might choose to read a book about the USWNT during the men's World Cup. Because I love football, and I really, really cannot stand the USMNT. I don't want to spend too much time talking about the men's team, because they're just not very good. But I do think it's important to contextualize the lens through which I read this book.

I got a lot of flack for not openly cheering for the men's team at the World Cup this year. I don't really feel the need to explain myself, but I will (of course). Not only do I have my qualms with the organization, I also just really enjoy other national teams. The England team has been one of my favorite national teams for at least the past decade. I've watched them ascend through lazy Saturday morning matches with my dad in high school, silly YouTube videos enjoyed with my sister in college, and religious FotMob notification checking in post-grad. They're a team people love to hate on, but they're also very good. They have an identity, a camaraderie, and a purpose: to bring football home. In the same way, I enjoy the Norwegian national team. I like them for different reasons. While they might not be elite quite yet, they've been on the rise. They're also a team centered on personal identity and forged in shared purpose. And of course, my favorite footballer of all time is Norwegian. And no - it's not Erling Haaland. Martin Ødegaard, captain of both Norway and Arsenal, is MY goat.

So why the animosity towards the USMNT? Well, it's nothing new. Not only is this current team lacking talent generally, they're also lacking cohesion, shared identity, and personal respect for their teammates (being frequently mired in off-pitch drama doesn't exactly set up teams for success). They have a handful of "superstars," but those pieces don't come together and complement at all. They're more like distinct, quirky furniture pieces from different styles and eras, shoved into a single room. And it's not just the current team - it's been this way for decades. How am I supposed to pull for a team I have no respect for? Let's just say, I'm voting with my dollars. I'm not going to support this team until they rip up the whole system. I don't want to hear about parents of players blackmailing the coach (their former best friend) because he's not getting enough minutes. I don't want to hear about Prima Donnas who think they deserve stardom. I don't want to hear about "recognizing some of these players from MLS!" If we are constantly asking, "what is the problem with American soccer?" and doesn't it ever get better, what are we doing exactly? And more importantly, how has the women's team seemed to figure this out and the men's team STILL can't get it together?

Enough about the men. Let's get to the winners around here. The US Women's National Team. Nothing makes me more patriotic than seeing Brandi Chastain's penalty kick from the 1999 World Cup. Or seeing Trinity Rodman's pink braids flying as Triple Espresso led the American attack at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Or generally watching GOOD football from my countrymen. Sorry, countrywomen. Watching the ladies of the USWNT play is so inspiring, because it's classic, American dominance. It's the same feeling I get from watching that lady confront that pickpocket in Italy. Or the feeling I get when British people complain about the heat. Or the feeling I get when I watch the gold medal count during the Olympics. Watching Alyssa Liu skate the perfect routine, Ilona Maher curb stomp Australians, or Tara Davis-Woodhall jump into the stands after winning her gold medal. Does that make sense? The USWNT is just that good.

I of course have great respect for the 99ers. But I grew up watching Kelly O'Hara, Megan Rapinoe, and Alex Morgan. And then, this current class of stars - these are my GIRLS. Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson (but also when she was Mallory Pugh), Sophia (Wilson - just found out she got married, oops) Smith, Rose Lavelle, Emily Fox - the list goes on. But again, I just missed the craze of the 99ers, since I, myself, am a 99er (in that, I was born then). But with the men's World Cup going on and the casting for the 99ers Netflix film in progress, I was inspired to dive into the details behind the legend.

My admiration for those trailblazers has only increased in reading this book. I want to start with what I did like about the book - the subjects. I found the structure to be (mostly) great. Further comments on the execution of the structure will come in future paragraphs. But as for the idea of the structure, it was there. We begin with the scramble of exhausted activity preceding the dreaded penalty shootout in the World Cup final. We see glimpses of big names and their different struggles to locate resolve in the Southern California heat. Mia Hamm, Briana Scurry, Brandi Chastain... they're all names I've heard a million times, but have never been able to contextualize. With each passing chapter, layers are peeled back for every single member of that World Cup-winning team. The skips between the past and the present help to bring forward those final moments of the World Cup and help the reader realize just how important the road to the game itself was for many of the players. I appreciated the fact that we got to experience each player's highs and lows, not just the big names. We got to see why different women were chosen and others left out. Why some of them were selected to take a penalty kick, and why some of them weren't available to do so. Why the cultural significance was so pressurized and the result of years of hard work by all parties involved. Like I said, great idea. I loved getting to see the behind-the-curtain look at the personalities behind one of the most pivotal moments in women's soccer.

The detail provided about each player also translated the poignant moment in time that the 1999 World Cup took place. We got to hear about the struggles each woman faced individually, yes - but we also got to see just how far the organization had come, and learn about just how much farther it (still) has to go. In the early days, girls were playing in horrible conditions, against teams that had unstable political landscapes and economies, and were frequently on the receiving end of criticism and unfair treatment by their own federation and the media, not to mention society at-large. Hearing all of these stories helped to contextualize just how much these women had to overcome to be considered one of the best national soccer programs in the world. These trials instilled a fighting spirit, strong central ideology, and an identity that they were proud to represent. These women were fierce, resilient, and gracious, all in one. They wrestled with perceptions of femininity in a physical sport, gender identity when sport demands masculine expectations of play, body image conversations, mental health crises, physical health setbacks and triumphs, and what it means to be a woman in the "modern" age. All of these topics swirled around a team of women who just loved to play a sport and wanted to represent themselves and their country well. Which is what made their triumph in 1999 all the sweeter.

I also did enjoy some of the writing. Some. It did unfortunately feel like the author was trying way too hard to generate emotional reactions with the way he crafted some sentences, but some of them really were beautiful tributes to a game we all love. I could tell a lot of care was poured into this book, it seemed like a cause important to the author. But that leads me into the critique section - and I have many with this book. You might've noticed, from the 2 star rating. Let's just say that rating has nothing to do with the content of the players' stories, but more with the way it was presented.

Of all my complaints, there is one that stands out above the rest, pretty significantly. Why was this book written by a man?! Question mark, exclamation point! This, and also you can tell it was written (likely a bit hastily) right after the 1999 World Cup. It's just... a different time. Some of the language used is just sooooo hard not to cringe at. Because it's written by a man, so shortly after the cultural victory, the crowing of "Women's Sports!!! They're the best!!!" rings hollow, and seems performative. It also comes across extremely reactionary - and that's coming from someone who got to witness almost three decades of American women dominating the sport. Longman has no idea what the future holds, yet he champions this team as a flashpoint in history, something that will finally right the ship of equal pay and respect for the women's game.

Maybe I'm jaded, but it's hard to read it knowing how much flack the team has taken in the last 6 years. The fact that the author sees this World Cup victory as a major solve for the problem of women's sports just feels naïve, and coming from a man, even worse. Because of course, a man would think, "Surely winning the World Cup is enough, right? It would be for the men!" - like, you don't get it, pal. For a man, yes; life gets easier when you win. For a woman, winning is the bare minimum. The goalposts are moved for every victory, and it's never enough. They could win every four years for decades, but if they're not generating revenue, it's not worth the investment. And if they start generating revenue, it's because it's a social cause, not because the game is any good. And if the game gets more entertaining, it'll be something else entirely, because there is no winning in this world for talented women.

Sigh. Sorry for ranting. But it's so hard to watch this spoiled USMNT and know that the bar the women have set, as far as achievement and awareness goes, is so much higher - yet, the men on this team have nothing to show for the money pumped into their system. There is certainly a problem with men's soccer in the United States. It's one of my favorite problems to think about solving. But if the women's team was able to develop into this powerhouse of an organization, why can't the men at least attempt to replicate the magic? Probably because they haven't really experienced any sort of adversity. Hmm.

I guess it's worth noting that the women's game issss a bit different, since all countries were starting from scratch. And to the USSF's credit, they did invest slightly more than other nations in developing the program, with the foresight and knowledge they didn't have when attempting to catch up the men's game to the rest of the world. So yes, the USWNT is a trailblazer for the sport as a whole, serving as a model for other nations that are certainly starting to catch up, especially over in Europe. The Lionesses, for example, are beginning to capture the imaginations of young children across the pond, in the same way the USWNT did in the 90s. And the rise of other nations has put the USWNT's position of dominance into slight jeopardy. But only just slight.

Anyway, final critiques of the book itself, and then I'll let you go. We covered the disjointedness of the author and the subject matter, the sometimes confusing / whiplash-y flips between past and present, the overdone prose, and the weird, performative optimism (and pessimism?) about women's sports. In addition, this book was way longer than it needed to be, and a bit repetitive. Okay, a lot repetitive. I found myself wondering how many times we were going to cover the topics of Brandi Chastain's entertainer personality, Michelle Akers' autoimmune disease, or the weight of glorious purpose thrust upon Mia Hamm by the international media. And the "present" bits of the book seemed to stretch on endlessly. It was like the author couldn't decide which was more important: a detailed, faithful retelling of the biggest moment in USWNT history, or the way they arrived here. Both are valuable, but the fact that this book feels extremely repetitive tells me that the author's goals were not clear when he began the book. Honestly, sometimes, reading it just felt outright like a chore. Which... is not a great place for a story of this magnitude to be. And thus, I have to give it a measly two stars.

Please, please, PLEASE do not let this rating take away from the fact that the USWNT is fully deserving of five stars. I sure hope they're able to put on a show next summer! At least we know they'll play at a higher level than the men. And that's all that really matters anyway.

[Lea Marshall]

I had high hopes for this one as a girl who grew up playing soccer and witnessing the inequalities that the women's team consistently faced vs. the men's team, despite them winning multiple World Cup titles. I'm disappointed.

I feel that this book could have been so much more and really lacked depth. Longman touched on all the themes mentioned in the synopsis, but there was no true exploration of them, and honestly, pretty minimal insight from the players. Sure they were quoted frequently, but it presented as fluff. The 1999 World Cup Championship was a huge accomplishment not only for the women's soccer team, but for women's sports and soccer in the US in general. To see it reduced to this? A boring re-telling that presented surface level information on the players themselves and how they go to this point. Really disappointing.

If I were to write this book, the first big thing that I would change is the structure. I would include chapters dedicated to each player, showcasing their journies, relationships, successes, failures, and the overall team dynamic. All accumulating to the final game in the World Cup. Mention the other games, talk more about the training camp! There's a story there and it seems like the author was either too lazy or unskilled to write it.

Despite my disappointment, I can appreciate Longman emphasizing how recent the inequalities women in sports have been facing. Both in my own lifetime and my mother's. And while huge strides have been made, there is still plenty of work to do.

Netflix is developing this book into either a movie or tv series. I'm hoping they'll do better with the story there.

[Avery]

"The Girls of Summer" by Jere Longman is a really cool book about the U.S. Women's Soccer Team winning a big tournament in 1999. The book talks about the players, like Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain, and how they practiced and played to become champions. What I liked is that it's not just about soccer; it tells personal stories about the players, making it interesting and not just about the games. The author also talks about why the 1999 Women's World Cup was important. It wasn't just about winning; it changed how people see women playing sports. The author does a great job of making the stories interesting and easy to understand, even if you're not a big soccer fan. "The Girls of Summer" is not just about soccer; it's about teamwork, hard work, and how a group of amazing women made a lasting impact on the world of women's soccer. What sets this book apart is its exploration of the broader impact of the 1999 Women's World Cup. Longman skillfully discusses how the team's success influenced the perception of women in sports, breaking down barriers and inspiring a new generation of female athletes. It goes beyond the game statistics, emphasizing the cultural significance of the tournament. I really enjoyed this book a solid 4/5 stars.

[Kara]

More than just a nostalgia read! Since this book was published almost 20 years ago and not long after the 1999 World Cup, I was concerned that the gender analysis would be weak from a 2019 perspective. But not only is that component strong, so is the storytelling. NY Times journalist Jere Longman skillfully switches between the details of the final match of the World Cup and in-depth reporting on the back stories of the players and teams, the politics and more. His rendering of the game's drama kept me up late reading, even though I was very familiar with the outcome. Another aspect I particularly enjoyed were some of the stories of the Chinese players' backgrounds and the conditions that their team developed in, which I had not read about before.

[Gail]

It actually did a really good job of bringing in the personal stories of the athletes, the national and global context, and the gender and racial issues in particular. I was pleasantly surprised. The main weakness for me was a tendency to jump around between those in often incomprehensible ways (mixed too with narrative description of the final match, which I wish I'd watched video of beforehand). Still, though, it gave me some great background for the team that has been and new perspectives to imagine what the team now is going through. Now on to "The National Team" for a look at the modern era of this squad!

[Brooke Lewis]

This book shows the true power of women athletes, the influence of the 1999 women’s national team on the future of girls soccer. It shows the truth that they are there to play, just like the men. Play as a team. Michelle Akers played until she collapsed in the 99’ Olympics that’s a true athlete. Play until you can’t anymore. It truly shows the remarkable interwoven story of the team.”We did it for each other. All the tough practices in Orlando, all the fitness when no one else was watching, all the miles traveled. We pushed each other, we encouraged each other.” Julie Foudy That truly embodies the true spirit of a genuine team.

[Sarah]

Well-researched and well-written. This was an excellent read. Of course, I know the names of Mia Hamm, Julie Found, Brandi Chastain, Kristine Lilly, Briana Scurry, and the iconic photo of Chastain's victory celebration, but I didn't know the stories behind it all. This book does a great job of simultaneously narrating the final game while also discussing the stories of the players, the team, the staff, and women's soccer as a whole in the US. I highly recommend it. It was a wonderful read to supplement this year's World Cup.

[Marie]

This was a fascinating dive into the circumstances surrounding the ‘99 Womens World Cup final match. It explored the social, personal, and emotional pressures put on the players in juxtaposition to specifics plays that occurred during the game. These women were my childhood role models for their performance on the field. As an adult, I now have such a deeper respect for the off-field challenges they faced to achieve what they did. The writing of the game was wonderful and made me relive that final shootout in all its tension and suspense.

[Grace Jaworski]

Wish I got to read this during the World Cup as intended but the library book delivery truck lost it for weeks. Really fascinating learning more about players I knew and didn’t know about. Well structured narrative about the 1999 team and it truly was all worth it for the final chapter. Also this book was such a conversation starter kept getting asked about it when I read it on my flights recently.

[Emma Harby]

Started this in anticipation of World Cup summer and the upcoming Netflix 99’ers movie. It incorporated all of the elements that make a good sports story great — players’ backstories, team dynamics and the politics, both of the time and of U.S. Soccer. What I thought would be a slightly predictable read ended up being one of my favorite sports books I’ve read in a while. Leave it to the USWNT to continue to deliver 27 years later.

[Marty Greenwell]

Very good book on many levels: women's rights, power of FIFA toward men's vs. women's national teams, soccer in general and how the game is played. Also, how the book takes the finals of the 1999 World Cup match with China and make it play out from the beginning to the end of the book. Also, I found out how tired players are at the end of the World Cup. Excellent

[Sarah Ketchum]

As one of the many eight year old girls who watched and were inspired by the 1999 women’s world cup team, it was fun to read and revisit the USA victory. As a kid who never grew up hearing “no, you can’t play because you’re a girl,” I also appreciated the reminder that women’s sports weren’t/aren’t always a given in many places.

[Juan Pablo Gatti]

Maravilloso libro acerca de un equipo de leyenda. Si les gusta el fútbol y, sobre todo, quieren enterarse absolutamente TODO lo que pasó con aquel equipo de EEUU de 1999 entonces este es un documento indispensable.

[hmraley]

For sure a me problem but I much prefer watching sports to reading about it. The whole time I was watching YouTube clips of the moments referenced. I don’t have memories of this World Cup (I wasn’t alive) so there isn’t the nostalgia factor in it for me. Can’t wait for the movie though!

[Mandira]

overall so strange… nonfiction that’s somehow thrilling?
I think this guy came up with some incredible sections of writing and then somehow had to connect them into a book
An odd number of typos and some of the sections meander
There’s a perfect book in here somewhere!

[Maeve]

4.9 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[Ms W]

AW: A summer read.

[Robyn]

Not enough SOCCER.

[Jean Wanlass]

actually far less rah rah America sports nationalism than i expected … fun times

[Anna]

It's a decent book that gets into the details of the prominent players of both the US and Chinese soccer team in the 1999 Women's World Cup. Not all players, just the marketable ones. Longman is a pretty fierce believer in these players, which is good in a lot of ways but dismissive of the intersectionality of privileges that the US women can afford vs women of other countries. I also felt like it was somewhat repetitive, like there were multiple copies of the same international games by the way it was referred by its year and competing countries.

[Kate]

Read this during/post the World Cup 2026, looking forward to the new movie — I remember playing soccer in 2002-2005 & loving Mia Hamm (but being pretty bored by watching soccer games in general, haha).

[Kait]

I read this for the first time when I was 9 or 10 and hadn't come back to it since. The same magic that I remembered was still there, and still just as captivating as it was during that final game. Towards the end, I found myself not wanting to read it because I didn't want the game and the cultural moment it created to end. Longman effortlessly splices together minute by minute details of the USA v. China final with beautiful, in-depth explorations of players, coaches, management, friends and family, and football culture around the world. Incredible.

[A Young]

One team changed all women's sports and how they were viewed by others. Jere Longman's, The Girls of Summer shows how women can play just as hard as men. This book shares the journey the women's US soccer team of 1999 experienced as they made their way to winning the World Cup. In this book, it explains that with teamwork and confidence, anything can be accomplished. Women's soccer has come a long way since the World Cup of 1999 and continues to gain the attention of viewers worldwide.

Female athletes were poorly respected during the time of the World Cup. The women's soccer team was slowly gaining respect from others and obtaining more fans. During an interview, Brandi Chastain was asked that if the team was more ugly, would they still have lots of fans? She responded, "There are those people who come purely for the soccer. There are those who come purely for the event. And there are those who come because they like us, to look at us. Those are the three great reasons to come," (Longman 38). In the final game of the World Cup versus China, the United States had won 5-4 in penalty kicks. The team had come a long way to make it to the championship. At one moment they were despised just because they were women and the next moment, they had over 90,000 fans routing for them in the finals. The World Cup of 1999 holds the record for the largest amount of fans at a women's sporting event.

I would recommend this book to others, especially to those who enjoy soccer. This book was very interesting and informative. It gives readers an appreciation of women participating in athletics. As a soccer player, I enjoyed reading this book and learning about the struggles women had in the past.

[Kim]

I had picked this book up months ago and never gotten around to it, but with the Women's World Cup starting soon (June 26th! Coverage on ESPN!) I decided I needed to finish it.

On the bright side, this is undoubtedly the best book chronicling that iconic WWC match between the United States and China in 1999. The author has done interviews with nearly all the players and main staff involved, resulting in quite a few interesting observations. There are brief biographies and insights on the American and Chinese players in the final match, and everyone gets attention equal to stars like Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain. And he does not neglect context, either, giving brief histories of women in sports and touching on sexism, racism and classism involved in the marketing and coverage of the tournament.

But I had some problems with the book as well. The book is structured with a few paragraphs describing the actual match, segueing into a tangent, back to the match, another tangent...it felt disorganized. Also, while the narration of the actual match is quite detailed, it is probably too detailed for those who aren't huge fans of the sport--and huge fans will probably just wish they were watching the match instead of reading it. And some of the author's writing struck me as clunky and overwrought. Trust me--this story doesn't need the embellishment.

Still, this is a great read for fans of the USWNT or women's soccer in general, especially as the American women head to Germany to recapture the trophy that's eluded them since this memorable 1999 match.