The hype surrounding Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese began with their 1999 World Cup squad.

HARRISON, NJ — The ’99ers’ text thread has been a little spicy the past few months.

The World Cup champions always knew there was a market for women’s sports. That 1999 tournament, played in packed NFL stadiums across the country and watched by millions at home, was proof, and the players hoped their thrilling victory in front of a packed Rose Bowl would be a catalyst for more investment and support.

Seeing this finally happen, 25 years later, makes them extremely happy.

It also irritates them.

“It’s like, FINALLY! Thank God,” Julie Foudy said Friday. “There’s a very robust text chain from the ’99ers celebrating Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and all these things that are happening, not just in football but in other sports. We celebrate it like it’s our own. It’s a very maternal feeling.”

“We played a small role in that, but to see it really take off 25 years later is just great to see,” Foudy added. “It just took a long time.”

The entire 1999 team will celebrate 25 years^º anniversary of the U.S. women’s national team’s World Cup victory against Mexico on Saturday, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect. These women — Foudy, Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Briana Scurry and all the others — have set in motion the gains that women’s sports and the women who play them are seeing unfold in real time.

Without the ’99ers, there is no Clark and Reese and no ratings success for their games, both in college and in the WNBA. Without the ’99ers, there is no explosion in the values ​​of women’s sports franchises and no investors, sponsors and broadcasters clamoring to get a piece of the action before they are priced out of the market. Without the ’99ers, there is no historic contract that gives the USWNT equal pay with the USMNT, a deal that has had ripple effects around the world.

Without these ’99ers, their own sons and daughters wouldn’t be growing up in a society where it’s simply assumed that women can do, be, and play anything they want.

“They don’t even think twice about wanting to do something,” said Hamm, who has twin girls, now 17, along with a 12-year-old son. “That’s what’s really encouraging, how they approach life.”

The ’99ers were the product of Title IX, the first generation to benefit from federal legislation that forced open the doors of higher education and athletic complexes to girls and young women. But their opportunities were still limited. As Hamm recalls, the first World Cup, in 1991, wasn’t even allowed to be called a World Cup. Their compensation, both in salary and benefits, was nowhere near what male athletes received. There was little, if any, attention paid to their games outside of the World Cup or the Olympics.

During the 1999 World Cup, the ’99ers felt like they were making an impact — how could you not, looking out at those packed stadiums? — but they didn’t fully understand how widespread that was until years later.

“It’s only now that I can fully grasp the scope of the moment that changed us and brought us here. This door that was opened because of that World Cup,” Michelle Akers said.

Women once again make up more than half of the U.S. team for the Paris Olympics, and they will likely dominate the U.S. medal count again as well. There are now thriving women’s professional leagues in soccer, basketball, hockey and volleyball. Salaries are rising and facilities are improving.

The new US women’s national team coach, Emma Hayes, may be English, but the ’99ers were also her role models.

“I have a really cool photo that I use with the team, which is the (’99) team on the podium and that ridiculous crowd. Unbelievable. Over it I put, ‘People don’t remember the time, they remember the moments.’ That’s what I remember,” said Hayes, who is now the highest-paid women’s coach in the world.

As the ’99ers see a stadium built exclusively for an NWSL team and men and boys wearing Clark jerseys, and see women’s sports become a normal part of the conversation in this country, there is no doubt about what their legacy is.

And it’s much more than the 1999 World Cup title.

“I think we always hoped it would be sooner than it is. But I’m not going to complain about where we are and the optimism and excitement around women’s sports,” Hamm said. “For a lot of us who have been a part of this, it feels like it’s about time. We welcome you and we’re going to continue to build on this together.”

This weekend is a celebration not just of what the ’99ers have accomplished, but of what they’ve inspired. And that party is just getting started.

Follow USA TODAY sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.