The 2007 Women's World Cup Final

How Marta became the world's greatest footballer

“Bem vindo a Dois Riachos
Terra de jogadora Marta
A melhor jogadora de futebol do mundo”¹

By the time the 2007 World Cup began, people knew who Marta was. She had announced herself in 2003, a 17 year old in the iconic Brazilian no 10 shirt, where she had scored 14 minutes into her World Cup debut against South Korea. She would eventually score 3 times at that tournament, including a penalty in the quarter-final against Sweden where they were knocked out. 

In the four years between then and the world finally heading to China a World Cup cycle later than planned, Marta had been named by FIFA the third best player in the world (2004), the second best player in the world (2005), and finally the best player in the world (2006). The 21 year old would more than live up to the mantle. 

Brazil made an electric start to the tournament, thrashing New Zealand 5-0 with Marta scoring twice, a total she doubled when they beat the hosts 4-0. A late 1-0 win over Denmark secured top spot in the group and a quarter-final match against Australia. Australia were no pushovers though and despite Brazil going 2-0 up within the first 23 minutes, they were pegged back to 2-2. A Cristiane winner in the 75th minute set up a semi-final against the US.

For lots of people, this semi-final is remembered as a US-instigated meltdown, with coach Greg Ryan deciding to replace Hope Solo in goal with veteran Brianna Scurry just two days before the semi-final. Ryan claimed that his players said they felt more comfortable playing ahead of Scurry because she communicated more, and Solo claims that Abby Wambach told her she thought Scurry was the better goalkeeper.²

Whilst clearly the US were having their own issues behind the scenes, this match might actually be the one most worth watching if you want to understand what Marta was like at her peak. From the start the Americans could not deal with the technical level that Marta and the rest of the Brazilian team brought. They made foolish challenges, picked up silly yellow cards, and if they had told Ryan they trusted Scurry more than Solo, they certainly did not play like it. The Brazilians were 2-0 up within half an hour - the result of a Leslie Osborne own goal and a speculative Marta shot that Scurry should have saved. The fact that Christie Rampone was desperately holding onto Marta’s shorts as she moved across the penalty area tells you everything you need to know about how the Americans were forced into approaching this match.

A red card before half-time for Shannon Boxx meant that the Brazilians had a player advantage for all the second-half, and Marta made the most of it. Her change of pace was impossible to predict. At points she just stood still with the ball at her feet, deciding what to do. Rampone flinched every time she even hinted at moving her foot. It was pure confidence - she is insultingly good. The piece de resistance was Brazil’s fourth goal. She flicked it behind the back of Tina Frimpong, running round the other side of her. She left Cat Whitehall on the floor before firing past Scurry.

“Look at the magic,” said the ESPN broadcast.³ It is hard to think of a better goal scored at a World Cup, and was a fitting finale to send Brazil to their first ever World Cup final.

There they would meet Germany, the holders and a team who had yet to concede a goal in this entire tournament. If Brazil’s start had been impressive, Germany had topped it, beating Argentina 11-0 in the opening match although a draw with England showed that they were not always able to rampage through defences. A neat 2-0 win over Japan meant they topped the group and played North Korea in the quarter-finals. A 3-0 win there, and then again over Norway in the semi-finals, meant both teams were brimming with confidence for the match.

Brazil started the stronger in the final with their high press and 1v1 ability seeming to put Germany on edge. It was not just Marta who starred - although her free role in the team to find whatever pockets of magic she could made it hard to take your eyes off her. But Cristiane also had the technical ability and confidence to unsettle defences whilst Formiga’s no-nonsense defensive attitude coupled with her passing vision saw her take control of the midfield. 

If the semi-final was the game where every ball came off for Marta, here it was a little bit different. There were moments where she should have tried to cut the ball back and instead she ran into a dead end of German defenders. Those little first touches which were so devastating in moving the US out of position just did not come off in quite the right way here. 

The Germans came out stronger in the second half and Birgit Prinz scored the opener after 52 minutes. It was a well-taken goal at the end of a good passing move from Germany. Going behind seemed to increase Brazil’s anxiety and their speed of play that felt so threatening in the first half began to feel rushed. But in the 67th minute, Cristiane was taken out after a fantastic through ball from Formiga. Up stepped Marta.

Football does not write happy endings for the sake of it. 

No matter how many times I watch Marta step up to take this penalty in the World Cup final, part of me still believes she will score. She had so clearly been the best player at the World Cup. What more could you want to help you get back into a game than the world’s best player taking a penalty. 

But she misses. It is a poor penalty that Nadine Angerer saves with ease. Later on head coach Silvia Neid said “when Marta didn’t convert her penalty, it was clear to me that we’d win the final.”⁴ And they did. Simone Laudehr headed in from a corner in the 86th minute to seal the win and a second consecutive World Cup win for Germany. They became the first team to ever win back to back World Cups, and it was a feat that has only been repeated once since, in 2015 and 2019 by the US.

Despite that achievement, it is hard to watch this match and think of anyone other than Marta. Angerer fittingly summed it up when she said: “I adored her”.⁵

The three Brazilians who shone so brightly in the final, Marta, Cristiane and Formiga,  would get some semblance of revenge over Prinz and Germany when the three of them scored in the 2008 Olympic semi-finals, despite having gone 1-0 down to a Prinz goal in the 10th minute. That victory however could only guarantee them a silver medal; they played out a reverse of the 2007 World Cup and lost to the US in the final.  A team destined to expend all their energy on impressive semi-final blow outs to only be downed at the final hurdle. 

Those years were the high point of the Brazilian team. We might now be witnessing the low point. Marta finished out her last game in a Brazil shirt, sat stoically on the bench, having played 81 minutes of a 0-0 draw with Jamaica. It had been a race to even get to Australia fit enough to play and now she was going home, as Brazil were knocked out of the group stage of a World Cup for the first time since 1995.

What does her legacy mean for Brazilian and for South American football? Marta’s relationship with Brazil has in some ways been complicated. At the 2019 World Cup, she tearfully implored the country to do more to support the women’s game. In 2015, her agent said that “this country has not been there for Marta”.⁶ Yet she is clearly adored, domestically and globally. 

Her impassioned speeches, her iconic lipstick, her steely-eyed determination - all have combined to make her one of, if not the most, iconic players of all time. She has inspired countless women and girls, professionals and non-professionals, and the tributes that have poured in following Brazil’s exit only show the tip of the iceberg in terms of her impact. 

Marta always seems the most frustrated that what seemed to have been set in motion in 2007 and the years surrounding it has not grown into something bigger within Brazil. It became the peak for that team, rather than kickstarting the kind of global domination which has been seen in the US or Germany.

South America is also still yet to host a World Cup tournament, the only continent aside from Africa at this point. Colombia, the up and coming stars of South American football, competed with Australia and New Zealand to host this edition after Brazil pulled out of bidding due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a lack of support from the federal government. Brazil have expressed interest in hosting the 2027 tournament, and maybe that will be the additional boost required to push the team on.

But even if Marta feels like her national team did not develop in the way she envisioned, she only has to look around her to see her influence. Part of the frustration for Brazil will be the fact that their squad contains some of the most talented young players in global football. Players like Kerolin and Ary Borges grew up watching a Brazilian woman being the best footballer in the world. Marta is aware of how she changed women’s football - that is one of the most refreshing things about her - but perhaps even she cannot realise quite what she achieved, overall.

1. Theivam, K and J. Kassouf (2019) The Making of the Women’s World Cup: Defining stories from a sport’s coming of age

2. Murray, C (2019) The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women who Changed Soccer

3. Theivam, K and J. Kassouf (2019) ibid.

4. Theivam, K and J. Kassouf (2019) ibid.

5. Theivam, K and J. Kassouf (2019) ibid.

6. Theivam, K and J. Kassouf (2019) ibid.