It will be up to women across all sports, until the world has evolved past the need for it. (The USWNT’s equal pay fight, for example, has been obfuscated by various percentages and performance-based incentives, sometimes wielded in questionable faith.)Īs ever, it will be up to Marta - who at 35 may still have another World Cup run in her - and her teammates to tell us. Last September, federation president Rogerio Caboclo made a show of stating Brazil had reached an equal pay agreement, but the Brazilian women have only played five matches since, two friendlies and February’s SheBelieves Cup, and there’s little way of knowing the truth. “Progress for women’s soccer here doesn’t walk,” Marta said in 2014. From the Maracanã to the municipalities, investment in the sport barely existed. The less turnovers, the thinking went, the less opportunity Marta would have on the ball.Īt the club level, she’s won major trophies in Brazil, Sweden and the United States, serving as a star attraction for leagues that desperately needed one as they were being built.Īnd through it all, the Brazilian federation couldn’t seem less interested in marketing her or supporting the women’s team. Her brilliance rippled so hard that the USWNT literally reoriented its approach for the 2008 Olympics in anticipation of facing Brazil again, opting to play more possession-based rather than direct and overpowering. She was a level above every other player on the pitch in the 2007 Women’s World Cup, where Brazil handed the United States its most decisive loss at a major tournament before losing to Germany in the final. It was during that period when she became a household name in women’s soccer. She was named FIFA World Player of the Year six times, including five straight years from 2006 to 2010. Pelé himself dubbed her “Pelé in skirts.” ![]() She’s also the World Cup’s record scorer, male or female, with 17. ![]() Marta is Brazil’s record scorer, male or female, with 109 international goals. “Just get on the bus,” Marta later implored her younger self, with the decision to remain home or travel some 1,200 miles to a new beginning shivering through her bones. So she played with the boys, and was discovered by Rio-based club Vasco da Gama as a 14-year-old. There weren’t many girls playing at all, since the government didn’t allow them to from 1941 through 1979. There were no girls teams in her native Dois Riachos. Ebenhack) Marta's soccer dominance is unmatchedĪs a child, she ran right into it. She didn’t quit the team alongside them - pleading instead for them to rejoin a united front, which they ultimately did a few months later - but Marta’s impact on fighting inequality in Brazilian soccer is beyond reproach.Įven though Marta has never won a World Cup or Olympics, her soccer prowress is unmatched. Marta namechecked fellow legends Cristiane and Formiga, who led a player revolt against the Brazilian federation in 2017 after “years of disrespect and lack of support,” which culminated in the firing of Emily Lima, the first female coach in program history. Cry in the beginning so you can smile in the end.” The women’s game depends on you to survive. “There’s not going to be a Formiga forever. “It’s being ready to play 90 plus 30 minutes. It’s taking care of yourself more,” Marta encouraged. She reminded us after Brazil’s loss to France in the 2019 Women’s World Cup, when she took command of her post-match interview, looked directly into the camera and spoke to Brazil’s next generation. And if there’s one thing Marta Vieira da Silva knows, it’s fighting for something. ![]() Rather, it means there still exists something out there to fight for. It’s not that she isn’t the greatest female player of all time without those honors, nor does it minimize her savant blend of technical and physical ability.
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