Brandi Chastain

Ten years ago, in front of the bulging eyes of a nation, a female athlete tore off her shirt, baring her black sports bra and her powerful soul. Today, the shirt is in a drawer, the bra is in a frame, but the essence of that soul still soars through a woman's sports landscape that was changed forever. "It was about so much more than soccer," Brandi Chastain says. You remember, right? Will anybody who witnessed the culture-changing events of that sweltering summer day ever forget?

She played on the team that won soccer's inaugural Women's World Cup in China in 1991. But that doesn't matter now. She was a gold-medal winner at Atlanta in 1996. That doesn't matter much, either. She scored the winning goal on a penalty kick in the final of the Women's World Cup in 1999. That also doesn't matter. What matters now is that Brandi Chastain is on the sideline, reduced to a being a cheerleader as the United States moves into the Olympic quarterfinals against Japan here tonight.

The first thing to understand about Catherine Anne Reddick is what she doesn't like. For example, although she was pleased by a recent Associated Press article about her, she hated the headline that read: "Young Reddick a Cat on the Prowl for United States Defense." And although she liked the feature on her that appeared in Soccer America magazine this month, she wasn't at all happy that it was boldly labeled: "Cat Power."

Two American world champions have been watching the Women's World Cup from the sideline -- one of them not by choice and the other because she is paid to do so. Brandi Chastain, who broke a bone in her foot in the opening match against Sweden, has been the cheerleader on crutches ever since, trying to drive the U.S. team into the Oct. 12 final at the Home Depot Center, possibly also against Sweden.

If the United States gets a bad qualifying draw for the 2006 World Cup, Coach Bruce Arena might be able to blame Brandi Chastain. The two-time women's world champion and Olympic gold-medal winner is one of 10 sports and entertainment figures selected to take part in the 90-minute ceremony when the World Cup preliminary draw is held Dec. 5 in the Festhalle at Frankfurt, Germany.