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Tuesday, April 24, 2001
Akers the straw that stirred U.S.
By Marc Connolly
ABC Sports Online
This piece was originally published on ESPN.com after the U.S. Women's National Team defeated China on penalty kicks to win the World Cup on July 10, 1999. It was named "Best Deadline/Game Story" in the Fifth Annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America writing contest later that year.
PASADENA, Calif. -- The most important player on the field for the Women's World Cup champion U.S. squad wasn't even on the pitch to witness Brandi Chastain's historic strike from the penalty stripe.
Michelle Akers was the dominant force Saturday against China throughout the 90-plus minutes she gutted out before leaving the game with a concussion suffered at the end of regulation, not to mention heat exhaustion, thanks to the 97-degree temperatures.
|  | | Michelle Akers tries to head the ball during the Women's World Cup '99 final game against China at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. |
Many would argue Akers was the MVP of the entire tournament.
Unfortunately for the 14-year veteran, she'll probably have to watch a replay of the 30 minutes of extra time and thrilling penalty-kick finale to know how it all really happened. She might have seen the final moments on a television monitor in the locker room, but the day was surely a blurry one for soccer's Grande Dame.
And that's a shame. No one else on either team was on their game as much as Akers. Watching her win head ball after head ball and disrupt the Chinese offense at every turn, it makes one wonder about what type of performances she would display if she didn't have Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome -- a disease she has been battling since 1992.
On Saturday, Akers fought off the following opponents: a separated left shoulder, knees that have been under the knife a dozen times, her aforementioned disease and, of course, the toughest opponent the U.S. has ever faced in its soccer history. And that's not even mentioning Father Time, always a factor for a 33-year-old soccer player.
Despite everything, Akers dominated play from the opening whistle until she was practically carried to the locker room kicking and screaming.
But that's Akers.
"Michelle was the anchor for our team today, as well as the whole tournament," said assistant coach Lauren Gregg, who has coached Akers the past 10 years after playing with her in the mid-1980s. "She's the heartbeat of the team. She's why we are where we are today."
"Every time the ball went up into the air, she was finding it with her head," added goalkeeper Briana Scurry, who joined Akers and three other U.S. players on the tournament's All-Star team. "She took over that entire midfield almost single-handedly. Her defensive has been unbelievable this entire tournament."
Akers was especially crucial for the defense during a nerve-wracking span midway through the first half, when China created several scoring chances. In one sequence, Akers raced back to the touchline to make a diving last-gasp header out of bounds to bail out Joy Fawcett and Carla Overbeck, who were beaten down the right side of the field. On the ensuing corner kick, it was Akers again gettng to the ball and clearing the zone.
This sort of impact and effort is something her teammates and coaches have come to expect over the years. Head coach Tony DiCicco, who now owns two World Cup medals (in 1991 he was an assistant to Anson Dorrance) and one Olympic gold medal ('96), offered up a fitting tribute to his defensive midfielder.
"The fans were treated today to witnessing one of the greatest women athletes in history," said a champagne-drenched DiCicco at the postgame press conference. "She's a true champion who left it all out on the field. Michelle Akers inspires me, and I know she does the same for everyone else on the USA team."
One minute into injury time, Akers took a hit from which even she couldn't recover. When a dangerous ball was sent into the Americans' six-yard box off a corner kick, the three-time World Cup veteran raced back to use her 5-foot-10 frame to clear the ball out of the zone. Just as the ball made contact with her massive mane of hair -- her nickname isn't "Mufasa" after the Lion King character for nothing -- Akers collided with Scurry and was dealt a vicious elbow to her head.
While the rest of her teammates downed fluids and collapsed on the sidelines during the break between regulation and extra time, Akers lay in front of the goal surrounded by members of the U.S. staff. When the doctors saw how woozy Akers had become, they informed DiCicco and Gregg.
"It became a medical decision," Gregg said. "She didn't want to come out. But we'd never risk a player's health for any one game."
Akers was escorted to the locker room, where she stayed until well after Chastain tore off her jersey in celebration of her winning penalty kick. DiCicco was forced to switch Fawcett to holding midfielder and insert Sara Whalen into the game. He also used Overbeck to take the first penalty kick -- a role that likely would have been filled by the strong-legged Akers if she had been in the game.
"It broke my heart to see Michelle go down," said Whalen, who received her 37th cap against China. "She has so much heart that everyone only plays better whenever she's out there. So it was a shame she had to come out."
Though the U.S. held on in extra time and forced penalty kicks, Akers' presence was sorely missed.
"When she went off today, we had a huge hole in the middle of the field," Gregg said.
Akers made a brief appearance on the field for the awards ceremony, but obviously wasn't well. When the team whooped it up with President Clinton in the locker room afterward, Akers was kept away from the team to recover on her own.
"We went in and visited her, and the one thing she did say was that she didn't want to be away from the team, and that if the team went, she wanted to go with us," said Whalen, who described her teammate's condition as being "out of it."
In the coming months, people will remember Chastain's kick, Scurry's penalty-kick save and the overall frenzy surrounding the end of the match. But Akers, the oldest member of the team, was the straw that stirred the drink for the U.S. throughout the tournament.
She's the star who shone brightest when the U.S. team needed her most.
Marc Connolly is a senior writer for ABC Sports Online.
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