Chastain sidelined with stress fractures in foot

By Greg Beacham
The Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. “”mdash; Brandi Chastain expects her broken
right foot to heal in time for training camp in November with the
WUSA champion Bay Area CyberRays.

Chastain, who made the winning penalty kick for the United
States in the 1999 World Cup, incurred two stress fractures in her
right foot in a WUSA game on July 15. She still was able to play
the rest of the league’s inaugural season, which ended with
the CyberRays winning the title.

At the time, Chastain thought she had only minor ligament damage
in the middle of her foot. The fractures weren’t diagnosed
until Chastain played with the U.S. national team earlier this
month at the Nike U.S. Women’s Cup in Chicago.

Chastain is on crutches, and her right leg is in a walking boot,
but she doesn’t expect to miss any competition with Bay Area
or the national team. She hopes to be fully recovered in six weeks,
though team doctors expect eight to 12 weeks of healing.

“I’ve had it for a while, but I didn’t know
what it was,” Chastain said Wednesday. “It’s good
to finally get it fixed and get going. I’ll be
fine.”

She played with the national team Sept. 9, but the remaining
matches of the tournament were canceled because of the terrorist
attacks on New York and Washington. The team held three 30-minute
scrimmages on Sept. 12, and Chastain’s foot swelled
alarmingly during the workouts.

“The stress fractures may have been the accumulation of
pounding on hard surfaces over time,” CyberRays coach Ian
Sawyers said. “There are innumerable ways they could have
happened. It’s a testimony to her that she could play with
such pain. We’re finally relieved to know what it
is.”