World Cup goodbye to 'Pele in a skirt'

23 years ago in the capital Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), U15 female Vasco da Gama was called up to compete with the seniors, with the appearance of Marta Viera da Silva. At first, no one noticed her until the ball rolled. "Back then, I knew Marta was gifted and it was hard to stop," Brazilian women's soccer legend Sisleide (Sissi) told CNN. "That special makes us play snakes."

In Sissi's memory, Marta, then 15 years old, always waited for the defender to rush in to perform a dribbling move, causing the opponent to miss and fall to the field. "The defenders are mad at Marta because they don't know how to stop this girl," said the 56-year-old former striker. Right from that first training session, Sissi believed that Marta would become a star of the Brazilian women's team.

But what Marta did was beyond imagination.

At the age of 37, Marta played six World Cups and is considered the all-time great female player. She has won a record six FIFA Player of the Year awards, including five consecutive years from 2006 to 2010, and is Brazil's all-time top goalscorer for the men's and women's national team (115 goals).

Marta also won the UEFA Champions League, Copa Libertadores, won both the Golden Shoe and the 2007 World Cup Golden Ball. By 2019, Marta became the first player to score at the World Cup, later with Christine Sinclair ( Canadian women) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) leveled. With 17 goals, Marta surpassed Miroslav Klose (Germany) to become the greatest scorer in the World Cup of all time. She has won the Copa America three times. Marta's only shortcoming is probably a world-class collective title, despite reaching the final of the 2007 World Cup and the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.

Marta means "all" to the Brazilian women's team (As Canarinhos - the blue canaries) for the past 21 years. She brought women's football to a new level and became an icon, a frame of reference for many female players later.

When Marta emerged as a promising star in the early 2000s, Brazil was still filled with male football icons with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Dida – outstanding people in the championship team. Fifth World Cup. But Marta still shines in his own right as an all-around attacking player whose technique is near-perfect, and who excels at both scoring and assisting. The above descriptions encapsulate the goal that is considered the most beautiful of Marta's career, setting Brazil's 4-0 victory over the US in the 2007 World Cup semi-finals - breaking the 51-match unbeaten streak of the most powerful team.

Juca Kfouri, one of the most famous Brazilian commentators, rates Marta's play at its peak unrivalled in Brazil, even while possessing some of the greatest male players. "Marta perfected all the basic skills from passing, shooting well with two feet, heading to the vision in the game," Kfouri told CNN. "For a football player, Marta is more complete than geniuses like Ronaldo or Rivaldo."

Even the living "soccer king" Pele himself welcomes comparisons between him and Marta, most notably the classic comment when calling Marta "Pele in a skirt". But Marta's influence is not limited to the pitch, but also ushers in a better period of development for Brazilian women's football.

From 1941 to 1979, it was illegal for women to play football in Brazil, but there are exceptions like the legendary Sissi when he broke the precepts to play football with boys of the same age. At the time when Marta emerged as a promising star of the world, Brazilian women's football was still young after many years of being restrained.

Marta is hailed as the "football queen" forcing the Brazilian authorities to rethink women's football, invest time and devote more resources to the women's team and the domestic league. Not Marta, no one has the strength to make that change, to dare to speak out against the mighty football that has invested too little in women.

The Marta craze in Brazil was evident in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Neymar led the men's team, while Marta led the women's team for the gold medal goal. Both wore the iconic number 10 shirt, but fans realized that Neymar's jerseys could only be easily bought across the country. Some fans solved the problem themselves by crossing out Neymar's name and then overwriting Marta's name on the back of the shirt. Earlier this year, Alagoas state - Marta's hometown - proposed a bold plan to change the name "King Pele Stadium" to "Queen Marta Stadium", but it has not been approved.

After Brazil was eliminated in the 1/8 round of the 2019 Women's World Cup, Marta was surprised by wearing dark red lipstick. She explains that it represents the spirit of "being ready to leave blood on the pitch". She begs young Brazilian girls to be willing to inherit the responsibilities she hasn't been able to, because Marta doesn't last forever. "Women's football is relying on you to survive. Think and value it more. Cry at the beginning to smile at the end," said Marta.

Kfouri sees moments like these as proof that Marta has single-handedly shouldered "the fragility of Brazilian women's football" throughout her career. Brazil is a country where women's football has never been supported, and has been banned for many years. But it is surprising that this country has an extraordinary person like Marta, with six times the best female player in the world.

After all her efforts, Marta still could not fulfill her dream when Brazil left the 2023 Women's World Cup right in the group stage after a 0-0 draw with Jamaica on August 2. Marta had never imagined this happening even in her worst nightmare. However, she said that the end of the journey itself marks a new beginning for the next generation.

Marta didn't say goodbye to the World Cup in full, but it was just one of many crazies that happened in Australia and New Zealand. Not only Marta, women's football icons like Christine Sinclair, Megan Rapinoe are also in the same situation. Supreme powers such as the US, Brazil, Germany, Canada or Norway were overthrown in turn. Behind the sadness is the joy when the level between football backgrounds has gradually narrowed, and a series of morning stars come out into the light to continue to develop women's football.

Another legacy of Marta is to leave a great idol for world women's football. Twenty years ago, no one knew her name but this time, when they parted, everyone said "goodbye Marta".

Sissi said that there were no female players to admire in her time, but everything changed since Marta appeared. "Now people can say, 'I want to be like Marta,'" Sissi said. "I don't think there will be another Marta. She made a big impact not only in Brazil but around the world."

The Jamaican girls who just eliminated Brazil also acknowledge that legacy. While embracing Marta after the game, captain Khadija Shaw told the idol that she was an inspiration to so many young girls in the Caribbean and around the world. And Chenya Matthews insists saying thank you to Marta is not enough after pioneering the fight for women's football, so that people like her can wear soccer shoes like today.