The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 24: "A Total S***show Circus"
Murray closes her book with a deep dive into the USWNT's World Cup championship in 2019, focusing especially on the controversies related to the team's goal celebrations, President Trump's tweet storms about Megan Rapinoe, and the significance of the team's run within the context of their efforts to secure equal pay for female soccer players in the United States.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 23: "For Inspiration and For Power"
Murray documents the pivot from the U.S. Women's National Team's complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to its lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) on International Women's Day (May 8) in 2019.
After chronicling the back-and-forth between the 28-player USWNT pool and the USSF about whether both sides could negotiate in the days leading up to the 2019 Women's World Cup (they agreed to wait until after the tournament), Murray analyzed the 2019 World Cup roster as another opportunity for head coach Jill Ellis to turn over the team's roster.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 22: "We Had to Turn the Lens on Ourselves"
This chapter is a brief glimpse at U.S. Women's National Team's in 2017, the initial year in the 3-year interlude between the 2016 Olympics and the 2019 Women's World Cup.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 21: "The Power of Collective Bargaining"
Murray picks on the thread of Hope Solo's ban from the U.S. Women's Team following the 2016 Olympics to introduce the context of the players' negotiations with the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) in 2016, and most of the chapter is about the intricacies of that negotiation cycle within the context of the players' ongoing Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lawsuit against the USSF.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 20: "We Played a Bunch of Cowards"
After briefly providing context for head coach Jill Ellis's roster selections for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, Murray shifts focus to the U.S. Women's National Team's uncharacteristically early exit from that competition. More specifically, Murray reports on goalkeeper Hope Solo's controversial post-game comments about Sweden's tactics in the quarterfinals and her subsequent ban from the USWNT program.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 19: "It Is Our Job to Keep Fighting"
Murray analyzes the context of the USWNT's federal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which primarily focused on the disparity of pay and game bonuses between the men's and women's national teams.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 18: "I've Dreamed of Scoring a Shot Like That"
Murray's focus in this chapter is the 2015 Women's World Cup, from the pre-event controversy about the use of turf fields in the games to the USWNT's victorious run culminating with a 5-2 win over Japan in the final.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 17: "I Cannot Comment Further at This Time"
After summarizing Tom Sermanni's largely successful 18-month stint as USWNT, Murray writes about Hope Solo's off-field controversies leading up to the 2015 Women's World Cup.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 16: "Let's Give This League a Shot, Let's Go For It"
Murray opens the third section of her book with the details of a post-game meeting between the USWNT and the U.S. Soccer Federation in Hartford on October 12, 2012.
The topic was yet another women's professional league, and the remainder of this chapter analyzes the development of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which is now the longest-running women's professional soccer league in U.S. history.
A key difference between this league and previous attempts was the buy-in among the federations in Canada, Mexico, and the United States to subsidize the salaries of national team mainstays to relieve the financial burden of individual clubs.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 15: "Okay, This Is Our Payback"
After describing the warm homecoming the USWNT team received following their second-place finish in the 2011 World Cup, she spends most of the chapter focusing on the team's Gold Medal run in the 2012 Olympics.
And she closes the chapter with the familiar post-competition coaching change, when Pia Sundhage leaves the USWNT to become the head coach of the women's national team in her home country Sweden.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 14: "The Americans? They Just Go For It"
Murray summarizes the 2011 World Cup, with particular emphasis placed on the USWNT's dramatic win over Brazil in the quarterfinals and their disappointing loss to Japan in the final.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 13: "You Wouldn't Be on the Field If It Was Up to Me"
Murray documents the short-lived Women's Professional Soccer league, which struggled to sustain itself given the Great Recession, waning interest in women's soccer, and eccentric and unreliable ownership groups like Dan Borislow (magicJack).
Murray briefly writes about the USWNT's struggle to qualify for the 2011 World Cup, which required a home-and-away playoff against Italy after the team failed to earn direct qualification out of CONCACAF.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 12: "Whoa, Can We Do This Without Her?"
Murray provides the context for the hiring of Pia Sundhage as the USWNT head coach in late 2007 before detailing the team's efforts to win a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics despite losing their best player Abby Wambach to an injury in a pre-tourney friendly.
And Murray closes the chapter by describing Sunil Gulati's efforts to improve the working relationship between the USWNT, and explaining the context of "The Markgraf Rule." Named after longtime USWNT defender Kate Markgraf, the rule guaranteed that any player who had to leave the team due to pregnancy would be put on the same contract she had before her pregnancy and would be provided with a 3-month window to earn back her roster spot.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 11: "If There Isn't a Goalkeeper Controversy, Why Make One?"
Murray opens the second half of the book by summarizing the unceremonious retirements of veterans Brandi Chastain, Shannon MacMillon, and Tiffany Milbrett shortly after Greg Ryan became the U.S. Women's National Team's head coach.
Those veterans were replaced by a new roster of players who were either under 23 years of age and/or lightly-capped, including Carli Lloyd and Hope Solo.
And most of the chapter focuses on Ryan's controversial decision to bench longtime starter Solo in favor of backup Briana Scurry in the semifinal of the 2007 Women's World Cup in China. Brazil beat the U.S. 4-0 in a game described by Heather O'Reilly as "the game from hell," and Solo scathing comments about the situation after game only further fractured the team and resulted in Solo's de facto exclusion from the team for the remainder of the tournament.
The situation also resulted in the firing of Ryan, whose career as USWNT head coach ended with that sole defeat on his record.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 10: "Why Do We Have to Deal with This Discrimination?"
Murray summarizes the aftermath of the women's national team's Gold Medal campaign in 2004, specifically the program's ongoing conflict with the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF).
After the USSF proposed a barebones schedule for 2005, the women's national team pushed back by sending a list of grievances to the USSF's parent organization, the U.S. Olympic Committee. Contract negotiations that year also resulted in a multi-tiered annual salary system for the players, which is the first time they were able to secure annual compensation instead of 8-month stipends. And 2005 was also marked by the hiring of Greg Ryan as the team's new head coach, a decision that wasn't popular with the program's players.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 9: "It Was Their Team"
Murray chronicles the generational changes and coach-player conflicts that marked the U.S. Women's National Team's disappointing experience in the 2003 World Cup and the program's Gold Medal run in the 2004 Summer Olympics.
The chapter closes with the retirement of most of the 99ers and the resignation of April Heinrich as the team's head coach.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 8: "We Kind of Bled to Death"
Murray analyzes the rise and fall of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) league, the first national professional women's league in the U.S. that lasted three seasons after a promising debut in 2001.
Numerous culprits were identified for the league's failure, including a lack of corporate sponsorship, the economic downturn caused by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, animosity from both the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and Major League Soccer (MLS), lower revenues than expected, higher costs than expected, and a lack of deep-pocketed benefactors who would do anything they could to keep the league afloat.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 7: "Is That the Starting Team? Am I Not On It?"
Murray opens the chapter with the U.S. Soccer Federation's decision to not retain Tony DiCicco as the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team, and she pivots to the hiring of April Heinrich and the team's silver medal performance in the 2000 Olympics.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 6: "Oh S***, These Women are for Real"
Murray focuses on conflicts between the U.S. Women's National Team and the U.S. Soccer Federation, specifically the logistics and finances associated with a post-victory tour following the 1999 World Cup.
Tensions continued during contract negotiations for a contract that expired in 1999. Top-level players boycotted an Australian competition in January 2000, so younger players rostered the team that won that competition.
But a new contract was finally negotiated after first team players recruited youth players to join them in solidarity, and the 2000 Summer Olympics provided a clear deadline for negotiations.
The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Caitlin Murray)
Chapter 5: "Babe City, Ladies and Gentlemen"
Murray analyzes the 1999 World Cup winners' experiences after the competition, including their newfound fame and the debate they sparked about femininity and sex appeal. And she ends the chapter with an observation of the disparity between pay among men's and women's World Cup players.
