This day in sports: U.S. defeats China in Women’s World Cup

The United States women dance away with their second World Cup soccer championship on this date in 1999 when Brandi Chastain slams her penalty kick into the upper-right-hand corner of the net to give Team USA a 5-4 shootout victory over China before 90,185 fans on a sweltering sun-baked Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

After she puts the ball past China’s goalkeeper Gao Hong, Chastain rips off her jersey before running into the arms of teammates. Just before the winning kick, American goalkeeper Briana Scurry had blocked China’s last shot by Liu Ying.

Chastain said afterward, “Gao likes to get into a staring match with you and smile to make you feel uneasy. So I didn’t look at her.”

The U.S. women won their first World Cup in 1991 against Norway, 2-1, at Guangzhou, China. They would win two more — in 2015 against Japan and 2019 against the Netherlands.

Other memorable games and outstanding sports performances on this date:

1934 — Left-hander Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants strikes out five of the game’s best hitters in a row — Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin — but the American League comes back to beat the National League in the All-Star game 9-7 in front of 48,000 fans at the Polo Grounds in New York. All of Hubbell’s consecutive strikeouts, which come in the first and second innings, come against future members of the Hall of Fame.

1936 — Outfielder Chuck Klein of the Philadelphia Phillies hits four home runs in a 9-6, 10-inning win over the Pirates at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Klein is the fourth player in the big leagues and first in the National League to slug a quartet of home runs. He also is the first player from two different teams selected to the All-Star Game — the Phillies and Chicago Cubs. After 29 games, the Cubs trade him to the Phillies.

1951 — Randy Turpin is the first British boxer in 60 years to win the world middleweight title when he stuns Sugar Ray Robinson in a 15-round decision at London. The loss is Robinson’s second in 135 fights. Two months later, Robinson would regain the title from Turpin with a 10th-round technical knockout in front of 61,370 fans at the Polo Grounds.

1971 — Lee Trevino rebounds from a double bogey on the next-to-last hole with a birdie on the 72nd to win the 100th British Open by a stroke over Lu Liang-Huan of Taiwan at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. Trevino, who had won the U.S. Open a month earlier, is the fourth golfer to win both championships in the same year, joining Bobby Jones (1926, 1930), Gene Sarazen (1932), and Ben Hogan (1953).

1976 — Johnny Miller shoots a 66 in the final round at Royal Birkdale to beat 19-year-old Spaniard Seve Ballesteros by six strokes and win the British Open for his second major championship. Miller had won the U.S. Open in 1973 at Oakmont. Ballesteros shoots a 74 and ends up tied for second place with Jack Nicklaus. It’s the fifth time Nicklaus is a runner-up in the tournament.

1998 — Se Ri Pak of South Korea posts the lowest LPGA Tour score with a 10-under-par 61 in the second round of the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio. Pak birdies five holes on each nine, and wraps up the historic round with birdies on her last three holes, including a 20-footer on No. 18. She would go on to win the tournament by nine shots over runner-up Lisa Hackney.

2008 — Kim Kirchen puts on the yellow jersey at the Tour de France to become the first Luxembourg rider in 50 years to lead cycling’s showcase race. He finishes fourth in the sixth stage for Team Columbia in the 121-mile ride from Algurande to Super Besse-Sancy. Kirchen would wear the jersey four times in the race in which he finishes seventh overall.

2010 — Spain wins soccer’s World Cup for the first time after an exhausting 1-0 victory in extra time over the Netherlands at Johannesburg, South Africa. A Cup finals record 11 yellow cards are handed out and the Dutch finish the match with 10 men. In the end, it’s Andres Iniesta breaking free and scoring a right-footed shot from eight yards and just past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg. The loss is the third for the Netherlands in the finals.

2016 — Andy Murray of Scotland wins his second Wimbledon title in three years by beating Milos Raonic of Canada 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) on Centre Court at the All-England Club. Murray’s foot speed and ball striking enable him to become the second British player since Fred Perry to win more than one Wimbledon championship. Perry won three straight from 1934 to 1936.

Sources: The Times, Associated Press