Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – Nicknamed “Pele in a skirt” by the football great, the Brazilian star better known to her fans as “Queen” Marta will play in what could be her last women’s World Cup in France.
But the chances of winning the world crown that has eluded the 33-year-old veteran and her compatriots are slim, with Brazil not tipped to lift the trophy.
Widely considered to be the best female player of all time, Marta has come close to international glory with the Selecao, making it to the World Cup final in 2007 and picking up silver medals in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.
But the Brazilian captain freely admits that this year’s World Cup will be challenging, at the very least, for the national team.
“It’s hard to think about the title,” Marta told a Swedish newspaper recently.
“At the moment the situation of the Selecao is far from ideal, it’s the worst since I’ve been there.”
The Brazilian women’s side — a mixture of young hopefuls and old-hands such as Marta, Cristiane and Formiga — have had a tough run-up to the World Cup, losing nine times in as many friendly games.
Adding to their woes, Marta suffered a hamstring injury during the build-up to the tournament and she is not a certainty for Brazil’s opening match against Jamaica on Sunday.
– Making history –
If Marta is not held in quite the same esteem as three-time World Cup champion Pele, she stands out for the number of individual awards to her name — more than any other player, male or female.
She was elected FIFA world player of the year for the sixth time in September, topping Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who have won the men’s award five times each.
Marta has much in common with Argentina’s Messi — both are small in size, have mesmerising ball skills and are both still seeking their first World Cup.
“(You say) Messi did not enter the history of football? It is not because we don’t win that we don’t remain in history,” Marta told reporters in January.
But Marta’s biggest achievement was to escape the misery of a difficult childhood in Dois Riachos in Brazil’s arid northeast state of Alagoas.
A UN ambassador for gender equality, she is an inspiration for many Brazilian women who love to play football but are often stigmatized in the macho country.
from World Soccer Talk http://bit.ly/2KBntqq
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