The Naked Truth

There might be a million stories in the naked city, but there’s only one naked story in the city of Athens, Ga.

It has to do with Briana Scurry, the starting goalkeeper on the U.S. women’s national soccer team that begins its World Cup ’99 campaign Saturday against Denmark.

The story goes back a few years, to the 1996 Olympic Games, but that doesn’t detract from its appeal.

The way it began was . . . well, since Scurry was so intimately involved, why not let her tell the tale? She wouldn’t hide anything from us. Not now. Not three years later.

“Sports Illustrated called me, at my apartment,� Scurry began, “at 8 o’clock in the morning, so I’m half-asleep, right?

“And they’re like, ‘What would you do if you won the gold medal?’

“I said, ‘Oh, I’ll run naked through the streets of Athens,’ hung up the phone and fell back asleep.

“A couple of weeks later, Mr. Hamm, Mia’s dad, saw the article that said I would run naked. He was like, ‘What’s this?’ And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’

“So he showed me the article and I’m like, ‘Oh, no, they printed it.’ But I didn’t think anything of it. It was no big deal. I was just joking, because everyone else said [they’d go to] Disneyland or whatever.

“And so we get to the Olympics and . . . we get to the semifinal and we win [in overtime against Norway] and then the reporters started asking me about it. ‘Are you going to run naked?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to beat China first.’

“And then we beat China [to win the gold medal in Athens] and I wasn’t even thinking about it and I get to the area where all the media people are and they’re like, ‘Are you gonna run? Where are you gonna run? What are you gonna do?’

“So I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to do it. But I didn’t say you could take pictures and I didn’t say you could watch.’

“[Later] a friend of my roommate was [at the postgame party] and she got the video camera out, and so we got in my parents’ rental car and we went to a real secluded little side street in Athens.

“And I took all my clothes off in the back seat and put a towel on. And I’m sitting there and she’s videotaping me freezing my butt off and I’m talking, I forget what I was saying: ‘Here I am in the back seat of my car and here’s my medal. I’m gonna do it.’

“So I put the medal on, opened the door and took off the towel. I’ve got nothing on. No socks, nothing. Just the medal. So I ran down from like here to that tree [about 20 yards] and back. Completely deserted area. Two o’clock in the morning.

“People think I’m crazy, but I was like, ‘Look. I said it. We won. I did it.’

“Am I going to do it again? No.�

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Needless to say, the United States has never had a goalkeeper quite like Briana Collette Scurry.

The 27-year-old from Minneapolis has been the national team’s unquestioned No. 1 for the past five years and in that time has broken virtually all U.S. goalkeeping records.

In 90 games with her in the nets, the U.S has lost only eight times. Her goals-against average is a minute 0.56 and her 49 shutouts are by far the most of any national team goalkeeper.

“I have to give the edge to Bri [over her challengers for the position] because she’s won at the highest level,� U.S. Coach Tony DiCicco said. “And not only did she win at the highest level, she made key saves all through those Olympic Games for us to win.�

It helps, of course, that DiCicco is a former goalkeeper. He might not necessarily be able to teach, say, Tiffeny Milbrett to beat a defender with a head fake one way and a sharp cut the other, but he knows how to show Scurry and backup keepers Saskia Webber and Tracy Ducar exactly where to position themselves on free kicks.

The qualities required of a woman keeper, DiCicco said, are not necessarily the same as men. Height and reach are important, but not as important as other factors.

“What we look for in women goalkeepers might be a little bit different [from men],� DiCicco said, “because I have to look for the players who are athletic. They have to be athletic.

“And the second thing I look for is mental skills, the ability to control your emotions, to make big plays at big times, to stay calm in pressure situations, to deal with mistakes.

“Those are the two toughest things to teach. I think I can teach the techniques and the tactics, but the physical dimension, the athleticism, and the mental dimension are what I look for.�

It probably doesn’t occur to many fans that women goalkeepers have a more difficult job than men. Fans look at the number of goals scored in women’s games and immediately talk about the skill of the forwards.

But that’s only half the equation.

“The goal for them [women] is bigger,� DiCicco said. “You look at a goalkeeper like [6-foot-4, 202-pound U.S national team keeper] Brad Friedel compared to [5-foot-8, 150-pound] Briana Scurry. Not only is Briana smaller but I’m sure she has a shorter vertical jump than Brad.

“So therefore the goal is bigger. Which I think is good for the women’s game. It helps the scoring, it makes for more exciting saves, and so on.�

Goalkeeping is as much a mental game as physical, DiCicco said.

“With goalkeepers, it’s all about confidence,� he said. “You’re as much a psychologist as you are a trainer of goalkeepers.

“We can’t afford a goalkeeper to come into a game tentative. They have to come in ready to make the key save in the game in the first minute.�

Scurry can do that, which helps explain why she has been able to hold off the challenge from Webber, Ducar and others.

“I feel pushed, but I feel confident in myself,� she said. “I’m not one to worry so much about other people. I worry more about myself. I’m very much focused on what I’m doing and my game. And if I play my game the right way, everything takes care of itself.�

Scurry is the most experienced of all U.S. goalkeepers, having taken the starting job from 1991 World Championship-winner Mary Harvey in 1994.

She has a bronze medal from the 1995 World Championship in Sweden, but the ’96 Olympic Games remain the highlight of her career.

“The gold medal was like the realization of a dream I had had since I was 4 or 5 years old,� she said. “I had made this poster in 1991 or ’92 when I was in college that said ‘Atlanta ’96 Go for the Gold,’ and I put it on my wall at home.

“That was before [women’s] soccer was even going to be in the Olympics. I wanted to go, but I didn’t know how I was going to do it. But I was like, ‘That would be cool.’ And then suddenly there I was. It was very weird.

“It was incredible. It was so weird because I didn’t really realize we had won. I remember me and my mom on the couch, watching the hockey at Lake Placid [in 1980]. I remember that so vividly. And then it was like there I was, watching myself doing what I had watched other people do.�

Weird. Winning a gold medal can do that.

It can even make you run naked through the streets.

Is Pasadena ready?

FIRST U.S. GAME

Saturday vs. Denmark, noon at East Rutherford, N.J.

FIRST GAMES AT ROSE BOWL

Germany vs. Italy Sunday, 4 p.m.

Korea DPR vs. Nigeria Sunday, 6:30 p.m.

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Scurry-Up Defense

Goalkeeper Briana Scurry holds the U.S. records for victories and shutouts . A look at her national team career:

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Yr Games Min. GA SO GAA WLT 1994 12 1,080 5 7 0.42 1110 1995 15 1,344 11 9 0.74 1122 1996 17 1,495 11 8 0.66 1511 1997 15 912 7 7 0.69 1010 1998 19 1,620 9 12 0.50 1512 1999 12 1,035 8 6 0.66 1020 Total 90 7,486 51 49 0.56 7285

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*--Numbers do not necessarily add up since Scurry gained no decision in some games when she split time with another goalkeeper.