{"id":214423,"date":"2026-06-20T00:03:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T00:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/brandi-chastain-recalls-witnessing-the-1994-world-cups-power-to-unite-the-nation-today-com\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T00:03:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T00:03:06","slug":"brandi-chastain-recalls-witnessing-the-1994-world-cups-power-to-unite-the-nation-today-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/brandi-chastain-recalls-witnessing-the-1994-world-cups-power-to-unite-the-nation-today-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandi Chastain Recalls Witnessing the 1994 World Cup\u2019s Power to Unite the Nation – TODAY.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hot List: The Best Summer Problem Solvers Starting at $9<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Liz Calvario
Senior Editor
A love for soccer and community has always been in Brandi Chastain\u2019s blood.
The former National Women\u2019s Soccer League star is reveling in the excitement for this year\u2019s FIFA World Cup<\/a>, especially since it\u2019s being held in the United States,<\/a> as well as Mexico and Canada.
For the first time ever, the international men\u2019s soccer championship is hosted by three countries. The last time the U.S. had the World Cup was 1994.
Chastain, who is a two-time FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold-medalist, knows firsthand how uplifting and inspiring a tournament on home soil can be. That\u2019s why she had to be a part of Friskies\u2019 partnership with U.S. Soccer and the U.S. Men\u2019s National Team with Certified Frisky on the Field.
\u201cSupporting the U.S. women\u2019s and men\u2019s national teams, collectively, and the influence that that has on not just the players who play on those teams, it trickles down. It shows that soccer is valuable, that playing and contributing to teams is valuable,\u201d Chastain, 57, tells TODAY.com.
From now until the 2026 World Cup wraps on July 19, when the USMNT scores a goal, the brand will donate to cats in need.
\u201cI am eternally grateful for that support, but I also just love the fact that they want to get out there and celebrate goals \u2014 and goals are hard! Goals are hard in the World Cup!\u201d Chastain, known for scoring the winning penalty in the 1999 Women\u2019s World Cup final, adds. \u201cAnd so we\u2019re gonna attack these with some energy and some spirit and a lot of attitude.\u201d
Below, in her own words, Chastain shares her World Cup memories, as well as what she\u2019s most looking forward to as the tournament is underway.
Back in the black-and-white TV days, you didn\u2019t have many channels. In 1980, 1984, I saw some of it. I was a young person, like 11, 12. And then when it came here to the States \u2014 and this is why I\u2019m so excited about this World Cup \u2014 I saw firsthand and felt firsthand what seeing a World Cup can do (for the country).
I was already a World Cup champion with the \u201891 World Cup team. But by the time \u201894 came around, I had been cut from the team. So going to games in Los Angeles and then up here in Northern California, and just getting in the atmosphere of the World Cup \u2014 we were so lucky that Santa Clara University, where my husband coaches women\u2019s soccer, we hosted Brazil for six weeks \u2014 oh my gosh, it was incredible!
There\u2019s always some intention to influence and uplift the soccer community and to get more people to play, but it skyrocketed the number of people wanting to play and the number of kids in communities that maybe weren\u2019t feeling that love that they should. I think that really is how these World Cups are now, the architecture of them is to support the under-resourced communities to give opportunities to participate.
Maybe it\u2019s not tickets to the game, but it\u2019s going to the fan fest that\u2019s free for everybody and feel the vibes and the energy. Sit and watch together with people who speak different languages and get that sensation of what that togetherness feels like. To be a part of that ethos and that environment, (then and now), is really exciting for me.
I just knew athletics was a part of who I was. It spoke to me from the beginning. I was drawn to the baseball field, the football field, the soccer field, the basketball court. It didn\u2019t matter what it was. I was like, \u201cI\u2019m in, I\u2019m going to go for it. I don\u2019t know anything about it, but I\u2019m going to try it.\u201d And I always felt welcomed and always felt included. For me, that is such a vehicle for good things to happen in the future. That\u2019s kind of the ethos of my nonprofit, is to use sports and movement as the vehicle to what young people can find out about themselves. But I knew athletics was in my blood. I didn\u2019t have a choice.
Firsts are always exciting. On the 12, the U.S. men (had) their first match down in Los Angeles. I\u2019m very excited about that because that sets the tone for the tournament.
Obviously, we can talk about all the players that we love and adore, who play in Europe or in South America or in Africa or on our favorite teams that we support that aren\u2019t here, but I am so excited about the U.S. men\u2019s national team. I really believe that something special could happen and it\u2019s up to everybody out there \u2014 I\u2019m pointing at everybody who\u2019s watching and listening \u2014 and I\u2019m saying, \u2018You! You can make a difference.\u2019 Participation in any way matters.
Liz Calvario is a Los Angeles-based senior editor for TODAY.com who covers entertainment, pop culture and trending news.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLCApple\u00ae, Apple logo\u00ae and App Store\u00ae are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hot List: The Best Summer Problem Solvers Starting at $9 Liz CalvarioSenior EditorA love for soccer and community has always been in Brandi Chastain\u2019s blood. The former National Women\u2019s Soccer League star is reveling in the excitement for this year\u2019s FIFA World Cup, especially since it\u2019s being held in the United States, as well as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":214424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-214423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}