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For women's soccer,
eyes on the prize

The U.S. team once again has a good shot at the World Cup

By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Jun 28, 2011

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When the U.S. men's team began last year's World Cup, its biggest hope was to make it to the second round.

But when the women's squad takes the field for its first game against North Korea in the Women's World Cup today at 11:45 a.m. on ESPN, its one and only goal is winning a title, which says a lot about the state of the men's and women's programs in this country.

The men have never won a World Cup. The women have not won a World Cup since 1999, when their historic victory seemed to elevate soccer to a whole new plane in this soccer-indifferent country.

Brandi Chastain became a media superstar after scoring the winning goal. Mia Hamm was the best-known female athlete in the country. And a women's professional soccer league launched soon after the victory.

But the soccer renaissance didn't last.

The women's league folded after serious financial problems, and the players on that celebrated 1999 team gradually retired.

Without titles in the following decade, women's soccer became more of an afterthought despite the fact that the women's team consistently ranks higher than the men's team on the worldwide level.

This summer the team has a chance to regain a measure of the 1999 squad's fame. Though this World Cup is happening in Germany and not the United States, which certainly helped the '99 squad's popularity, the U.S. has a good chance to win, as it's currently ranked No. 1 in the world.

Players like goal scoring machine Abby Wambach and goalkeeper Hope Solo are primed for a breakout tournament, and the women once again have a league to promote, the Women's Professional Soccer League, which launched two years ago.

Still, even with the women poised for a run at the title, ratings for this World Cup likely won't be as high as last summer, when ESPN drew record ratings for the U.S. men's team and the final game on ABC, featuring Spain's victory over the Netherlands, averaged 24.3 million total viewers, according to Nielsen. Men's soccer is simply a bigger draw in the U.S.

A look at this week’s top TV draws
TUESDAY, JUNE 28
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	NBC	"America's Got Talent" (R)	Auditions continue in New York City.
8 p.m.	ABC	"Wipeout" (R)	The Lawnmower and Mood Swing are among tonight's obstacles.
9 p.m.	USA	"White Collar (D)	A gangster from Detroit shows up in New York and threatens a mob war.
9 p.m.	NBC	"The Voice" (R)	The remaining singers give their finals performances.
10 p.m.	Comedy Central	"Tosh.0" (C)	Tosh takes calls from viewers and plays a game called Guess What Happens Next?
10 p.m.	TNT	"Hawthorne" (D)	Bill Engvall guests as an internal affairs officer looking into recent events.
11:35 p.m.	CBS	"Late Show with David Letterman" (T)	Actor Tom Hanks guests.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	NBC	"The Voice" (R)	Season finale. The show's first winner is revealed.
8 p.m.	Fox	"So You Think You Can Dance" (R)	The 16 remaining dancers deliver another round of performances.
9 p.m.	USA	"Royal Pains" (D)	Season premiere. Hank helps those injured in an overturned vehicle.
10 p.m.	NBC	"Love in the Wild" (R)	Series premiere. Twenty singles go on adventure-themed dates in Costa Rica.
10 p.m.	Discovery Channel	"The Supernaturalist" (N)	The magician Dan White visits a monk in Nepal who apparently levitates.
10 p.m.	USA	"Necessary Roughness" (D)	Series premiere. A therapist gets a job with a football team.
THURSDAY, JUNE 30
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	Fox	"So You Think You Can Dance" (R)	AXIS Dance Company performs and the field is trimmed to 14.
9 p.m.	ABC	"Expedition Impossible" (R)	The reality competition tries to build on last week's solid debut.
9 p.m.	A&E	"First 48" (N)	A look at murder cases in Louisville, Ky., and Harris County, Texas.
9 p.m.	History	"Swamp People" (R)	Joe and Tommy split up and Joe hires someone to take Tommy's place.
10 p.m.	ABC	"Rookie Blue" (D)	Andy and Gail pose as cocktail waitresses in a club where drug trafficking is suspected.
10 p.m.	USA	"Suits" (D)	Harvey's past may come back to haunt him.
10 p.m.	FX	"Wilfred" (C)	Ryan tricks Wilfred into going to the dentist.
FRIDAY, JULY 1
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	ABC	"Good Morning America" (N)	Beyonce performs in Central Park.
7:30 p.m.	ESPN	"NASCAR Racing" (S)	The Nationwide Series' Subway Jalapeno 250 from Daytona.
8:30 p.m.	Disney Channel	"A.N.T. Farm" (C)	Chyna doesn't study for a science test but still gets an A.
9 p.m.	Discovery Channel	"Dual Survival" (N)	Looking at what could happen to travelers who run out of gas on an abandoned road.
10 p.m.	IFC	"Rhett & Link: Commercial Kings" (R)	The pair tries to help a Los Angeles car wash and detailing company increase business.
10 p.m.	Food Network	"Outrageous Food" (R)	Tom tries to eat a seven-pound sandwich.
SATURDAY, JULY 2
Time	Network	Program	Description
9 a.m.	NBC	"Tennis" (S)	Coverage of the women's final at Wimbledon.
2 p.m.	NBC	"Tour de France" (S)	The 98th annual event begins in Passage du Gois.
4 p.m.	Fox	"Major League Baseball" (S)	Matchups include Cubs-White Sox, Mets-Yankees and Indians-Reds.
4:45 p.m.	HBO	"Boxing" (S)	Heavyweight champs David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko face off in a live unification bout in Germany.
7:30 p.m.	TNT	"NASCAR Racing" (S)	The Sprint Cup Coke Zero 400 from Daytona.
8 p.m.	Nickelodeon	"Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures" (C)	Skinner gets a promotion at the taco shop but then has to fire Bucket.
SUNDAY, JULY 3
Time	Network	Program	Description
9 a.m.	NBC	"Tennis" (S)	Another Wimbledon final, this time on the men's side.
3 p.m.	CBS	"PGA Golf" (S)	Final round of the AT&T National, won last year by Justin Rose.
8 p.m.	ESPN	"Major League Baseball" (S)	Los Angeles-area battle between the Dodgers and Angels.
9 p.m.	Food Network	"Food Network Star" (R)	Guy Fieri shoots segments of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" with the contestants.
9 p.m.	Comedy Central	"Christopher Titus: Neverlution" (C)	Titus performs a stand-up set at California Center for the Arts in Escondido, Calif.
10 p.m.	HBO	"Treme" (D)	Season finale. The New Orleans drama warps its second season.
A = awards show or special, C = comedy, D = drama, DD = daytime drama, G = game show, K = kids, M = movie, N = news/documentary, R = reality, S = sports, T = talk/variety show.