Carla Overbeck
World Soccer|September 2023
In 1999, Carla Overbeck captained the United States to their second World Cup triumph after a penalty-shootout victory over China in front of 90,185 supporters - the biggest-ever crowd to attend a Women's World Cup match.
Asif Burhan
Carla Overbeck

"My whole was from California, we moved to Texas when I was around five, but all our relatives lived in California so we would always go to the Rose Bowl parade. It was a really fun thing we all did as a family, the parade was amazing and the stadium is beautiful, so to go back there in 1999 was pretty special.

When we won the World Cup in 1991, I was the sweeper, that's what we played in college. It wasn't until after the introduction of the back-pass rule in 1992 that we changed our system. I credit United States head coach Tony DiCicco a lot for that, because after we lost in the 1995 World Cup to Norway, we changed our whole system. We played with a flat back three, then it changed into a flat back four. When the game evolves, your team has to evolve as well.

This story is from the September 2023 edition of World Soccer.

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This story is from the September 2023 edition of World Soccer.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.