Marta: trailblazer and trickster
Photography: Richard Callis/Imago/PA Image
There are few more iconic images in women’s football than that of Brandi Chastain on her knees, sports bra out, fists raised after she put away the winning penalty in the shoot-out of the 1999 World Cup final.
Even in 2024, with women’s football pulling record audiences on television and in stadiums, it still feels like the sport is stepping out from the darkness. So, when we rewind the clock 21 years, it only makes Marta’s unique displays at the 2003 World Cup that much more noteworthy.
Before Marta, no one in women’s football was quite like the diminutive attacker. Of course, the game has seen many expressive and deft players, but there has never been another like Marta. Announcing herself on the world stage at age 17 during the relocated 2003 World Cup, the teen opened Brazil’s scoring at the tournament from 12 yards against South Korea. Yet it wasn’t until the tournament four years later in China that all eyes fell on the celebrated no.10.
A runner-up at the Olympic Games the previous year, Marta already had one FIFA Player of the Year award in her locker before she danced around the pitches in China and brought a new kind of energy to the game. With the ball seemingly on a string, the wily attacker could and would tie defences in knots, ensnaring individuals, pulling them into her orbit before rolling the ball over a foot, promising them a dash to the right before darting to the left, leaving them dazed in her wake. The tricks and skills were mesmerising, whilst others in the game may have had tekkers, no-one possessed the flair or childlike innocence on the ball that Marta did.
“The tricks and skills were mesmerising... no-one possessed the flair or childlike innocence on the ball that Marta did.”
A player who enjoyed every second of her craft, the [then] 21-year-old sucked fans in, letting them revel in her uncanny abilities, bewitching them like so many hapless defenders who had been left in the dust time and again. By the time Brazil reached the semi-finals to face the USA in Hangzhou, every eye was on Marta. What would she do next? How would she beat her marker? How would she wriggle free with a cluster of players around her? Marta always provided an answer, with the American players left spellbound.
By the time she scored her second of the match, the world was smitten. With her back to goal and Tina Ellertson wrapped around her back, the Brazilian barely paused to assess the situation, instinctively flicking the ball over her shoulder. Ellertson didn’t have time to blink before Marta was gone. Having collected the loose ball, the attacker led with her left foot letting Cat Whitehill buy the dummy, the defender left staggering as Marta stepped into space, her foot pulled back to dispatch the ball into the net before anyone could get close enough to be fooled once more. At that moment, the World Cup only seemed to exist for Marta to dazzle.
No other player in the world could do what Marta could. Her reputation grew, and as much as the world delighted in her magic, they felt her repeated heartache when Brazil failed to top any podium. Whether it be the loss to Germany in the 2007 final or the back-to-back Olympic finals in 2004 and 2008 that were lost in extra-time, both to the USA, glory evaded Brazil and left Marta without the glory of her male counterparts. The female Ronaldinho, Romário, Ronaldo, Pelé… Marta has been compared to all the greats who have represented Seleção; the only thing that separates her from them is the lack of international silverware. The woman widely regarded as the greatest to ever play football, with a cabinet overflowing with individual accolades, was never quite able to be everything for Brazil and lead the team to major tournament glory.
Words: Sophie Lawson
First published 30 September 2019