As "The Only" (2022 release; 99 min.) opens, various talking heads talk glowingly about Briana Scurry, the massively talented goalie who was a mainstay in the US Women's National Soccer Team for years and years back in the 90s and 00s. We then go back to "Minneapolis", where she grew up and how she consistently was the only black girl on the sports teams she played on. Heavily recruited by colleges, she ends up at UMass, and one day when playing North Carolina, the NC coach Anson Dorrance notices her. As it happens, Dorrance also coaches the USWNT...

Couple of comments: this is the feature length directing debut of Anthony Cortese, best known as an editor in various sports-related movies and programs. Here he reassesses the legacy, both sports-wise and beyond sports, of Briana Scurry, who is America-American and openly gay. I'll be honest, I only decided to watch this documentary because I love soccer. I didn't know too much about Scurry, beyond being the longtime US goalie, and my expectations for this were quite low. Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong. You think you know who Scurry really is? This documentary will almost certainly surprise you, in particular as we get into the second half of it. Besides Scurry, the documentary also looks at the decades=long struggle by the US Women's National Team for "better pay and better quality". Let's just say that the US Soccer Federation doesn't come out very well. Coming across even worse is Hope Solo, after throwing Scurry under the bus at the 2007 World Cup, to the disgust of the other players. But perhaps the most important part of the documentary comes in the last 20-25 min after Scurry's playing career comes to an abrupt halt following a concussion... Just watch!

"The Only" recently premiered on Paramount . If you have any interest in soccer in general, or in Briana Scurry in particular, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.