The greatest female footballer in history has the opportunity to perfect her game at the Olympic Games – with the title she still lacks at a major tournament. Not even she expected it.
Marta has played over 200 international matches for Brazil and is considered a football icon in her home country.
Ane Frosaker / Imago
It was one of the most heartbreaking moments of these Olympic Games. In her 201st international match, Marta Vieira da Silva was shown the red card just before half-time in the last group match against Spain. She had hit her opponent in the head with an outstretched foot. The taekwondo move was not intentional, but brutal enough to justify the expulsion.
The 38-year-old left the pitch with her face twisted with tears and pain. She and everyone else thought: That’s it. The greatest female footballer in history will remain unfinished, without a single title with Brazil at a major tournament.
On the one hand, Marta had already made it clear months ago that “this is my last year with the national team.” On the other hand, no one could have expected that her teammates would be writing a little fairy tale without her from now on.
Brazil’s best times, like Marta’s, seemed to be over. At the last Women’s World Cup, the Seleção failed in their group against Jamaica. But the Olympic tournament, with games every three days and small squads of 18 players, has its own rules.
After defeats against Japan and Spain, Brazil only managed to make it to the quarter-finals as third in their group. A goal from Marta’s replacement Gabi Portilho put Brazil ahead of the hosts France 1-0. They then beat world champions and tournament favorites Spain 4-2 in a spectacular semi-final. The final will take place on Saturday evening against the USA. Marta returns from her suspension – and can still win the crown.
An icon of women’s football
The six-time FIFA World Player of the Year and World Cup record goalscorer (17 goals) has left her mark on her sport. With her technique, her ease and her imagination, she raised the game to a level that earned her the respect of both sexes. Pelé called her “Pelé in a skirt”. She had her footprint engraved in the “Walk of Fame” in front of the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, as the only woman alongside male legends such as Pelé, Ronaldinho, Beckenbauer, Maradona and Messi.
Thanks to such taboo-breaking, Marta was also successful off the pitch and gave the girls something that had not existed before: a female role model. Marta herself comes from a generation in which she was the only one playing football in her hometown of Dois Riachos. To pursue her dream, she had to travel to Rio de Janeiro alone at the age of 14 and soon travel all over the world.
Today there is still a lot to do, not least in her home country, where there is still a lack of funding and structures. But overall, women’s football has reached a new level of popularity thanks to her. While it used to absolutely need the Olympic Games to gain visibility, the World Cup has now achieved a similar or even greater importance.
Even the daughter of Dennis Rodman from the final opponent USA pays tribute to her
Opponents also look up to Marta. “She changed football,” says Trinity Rodman, daughter of basketball legend Dennis Rodman, of the final opponents USA. “Her legacy will last forever, but we want that gold medal.”
That’s understandable, but the rest of the football world will probably agree with Brazil. The only shortcoming in Marta’s work is that she hasn’t won this major title with the team. In her only World Cup final in 2007 against Germany, she missed a penalty after having played perhaps the greatest game of her career in the 4-0 semi-final against the USA. She stopped the women’s football superpower USA twice in Olympic finals: in 2004 and 2008, both times after extra time.
Now their epic could have a happy ending after all in their sixth games – similar to that of eight-time world footballer Lionel Messi at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Highlights and tricks from Marta.
Youtube
Of course there are differences. While Messi was a long disappointment in the national team and built his fame through his club career, it was the other way round for Marta: pictures of her heyday at Swedish clubs such as Umea, Tyresö and Rosengard are hardly easier to find than those of Pelé in the 1960s at FC Santos – she owes her myth to her appearances in the yellow Canarinha jersey. And while Messi led his team at every moment in the tournament of redemption, Marta was practically taken to the final by her teammates this time.
The last memory will hardly be the expulsion
In Brazil, there is a debate about whether it would be better for her to start the final on the bench and then be substituted towards the end of the game. Without Marta, the team is more compact and switches more quickly, reports the “Folha de São Paulo” from coaching circles.
On the other hand, it would be too simplistic to attribute the Brazilians’ transformation in the tournament to their suspension. In the only victory in the group stage against Nigeria, Marta provided the assist for the goal, and she initiated the move that led to the opening goal against Japan before Brazil lost the game after she was substituted. And against Spain the score was 0-0 when she was shown a red card. Coach Arthur Elias is faced with a difficult decision. One thing is clear: Marta’s last memory will not be a red card.
In one of her most memorable interviews after Brazil’s World Cup exit in 2019, Marta called on the young girls of her country to be willing to make sacrifices: “Women’s football depends on you to survive. Cry at the beginning so that you can smile at the end.” Marta could not have known at the time that with this sentence she was also providing a possible headline for her own Olympic career.
Marta, inspiring girls and women all around the world. ✨
A special moment, #OTD in 2019. 🫶 pic.twitter.com/0WbjT0PQaB
— FIFA Women’s World Cup (@FIFAWWC) June 23, 2024
