(tense music)
- [Narrator] Marta Vieira de Silva
is one of history's greatest footballers,
Compact and fast, Marta has filled
multiple attacking positions with aplomb.
She's just as likely to beat defenders
with her pace as she is to embarrass them
with staggering, stylish improvisation.
And once she shakes free, Marta has always
been able to blast powerful, precise, left footed shots.
At her best, Marta played nearly without flaw,
and it shows in her accomplishments.
Throughout her itinerant club career,
she collected copious trophies and individual honors.
And while representing her native country of Brazil,
Marta spent a whole era on top of the world.
She exploded as the top scorer
and top overall player at the 2007 World Cup
and hardly slowed thereafter.
Breaking a record with 17 career World Cup goals.
For her continued excellence Marta owned
a whole run of FIFA world player of the year honors
and carried that respect into her thirties.
Marta blessed her birthplace with elite production
and leadership for the better part
of two decades and five women's World Cups.
Yet she and her fellow Brazilians
have never hoisted the trophy.
Why?
What underlying circumstances
and what specific events stopped this great team
and its greatest player from winning a World Cup?
The first important thing to understand
is that Brazil has long been a soccer incubator.
A nation that invests heavily
in the development of great players
and the viability of great teams for men.
For Brazilian girls and women, it's a different story.
Enthusiasm for women's soccer grew
in the early 20th century but in 1941,
dictator Getúlio Vargas crushed that progress
in an effort to police women's bodies and socialization.
A new law prohibited female Brazilians
from playing soccer and other so-called
violent sports even just for fun.
The ban didn't end until 1979 after
years of protest and civil disobedience.
Though the ban was lifted
The misogyny and homophobia underpinning it persist.
Soccer playing girls and women have received nowhere near
the official support enjoyed by the men's game,
Sparse grassroots investment,
minimal professional opportunity
and outright disrespect from powerful
custodians of the National Confederation.
Brazil did not provide Marta much of a path.
So she had to blaze her own.
From kicking homemade soccer balls around her neighborhood
to standing out among boys as a teenager.
To a multi-day bus ride for her first tryout.
To becoming perhaps the best ever to play the women's game.
Marta became an icon and a winner in spite of
not because of a Brazilian women's football infrastructure.
The same system that abandoned countless other talents
who might have otherwise helped her win a World Cup.
Keep that in mind, as we examine how close Marta
and company came in each of five tournaments,
Brazil broke through to its first Women's World Cup
knockout stage at the 1999 tournament in the United States
where they finished third and they barely got paid for it,
and their matches weren't televised live back home.
Anyway, Brazil's hopes of improving upon
that finished in 2003, depended on a squad
with an average age of 22, the youngest in the competition.
Kátia, the striker was still in her prime
but gone where team captain Aline
and heroic top scorer Sissi.
Star forward Pretinha was out after knee surgery.
In came a flood of youth including Marta,
a starter at just 17 years old.
Those baby Brazilians won their group.
Thanks in large part to their upset of Norway.
A surprise drubbing that included
this long run and finish from Daniela.
Plus Marta getting a rebound on to her left foot
to score her second goal of the tournament.
The Norwegians were blown away by Brazil's youth
and speed in a four one defeat but Brazil's inexperience
perhaps caught up to them in a knockout stage matchup
with Sweden characterized more by fouling and frustration
than by the effective attacking they'd shown prior.
Marta left an imprint on the match.
After this Victoria Svensson header
put Sweden up one nil, the 17 year old
got tripped up by the keeper and drew a penalty.
Cool as ice she tied the match before half
with a steely penalty kick.
One of several unnecessary Brazilian fouls in second half
gave Sweden this free kick that ultimately won it.
Brazil had their opportunities
and expected a crucial one in the closing moments
When Kátia got taken down before she could finish
Marta's gorgeous lead pass into the box.
But to Kátia's dismay, no call came of it
and Sweden held on to win two one.
So Brazil fell well short of their '99 success
but still hoped their performance would inspire
more growth in the national women's game.
At least some people at home got to see it this time.
If nothing else, the young Marta
gave Brazil a lot of potential.
By the next World Cup
that potential would be fully realized.
Even before the 2007 World Cup,
Marta was on top of the world.
The 21 year old had been starring for a Swedish club team.
She was reigning FIFA world player of the year.
And during the summer, she led Brazil to utter dominance
and a gold medal in front of their home crowd
at the '07 Pan American Games.
She'd been compared to Pele, the God of Brazilian soccer
and Pele himself was into it.
At that year's World Cup in China,
Marta led her side to great things.
Brazil cruised through group play
and survived quarterfinal scare from Australia.
Thanks to Marta's penalty kick
and Cristiane's deciding goal in the second half.
In the semifinal, they met the United States,
a team on a 51 match win streak.
Brazil dealt those mighty Americans their worst loss ever.
Just destroyed them.
Marta's goal in the 27th minute put Brazil up two nil.
Up three nil in the 79th minute, Marta iced the cake
with one of her most spectacular inventions.
This elusive backheel and spin move,
a left to right ankle breaker
and an off-footed finish past Brianna Scurry.
Brazil made its first ever Women's World Cup final
led by a 21 year old with seven goals in their five matches.
Their opponent would be a problem.
Led by striker Birgit Prinz
and fortified by goalkeeper Nadine Angerer,
Germany had shut out all their tournament opponents.
Beginning with an 11-0 humiliation of Argentina.
Scoring against Germany, let alone beating them
would require a miracle.
The opportunities materialized,
but the miracles proved just out of reach.
Brazil controlled the ball to no avail
against that wall of a German defense.
Though, this left footed wallop from Daniela
came just inches away from doing
the trick in the 24th minute.
Her header off the rebound missed by several more inches.
Following dual clean sheets in the first half,
Prinz got way too open for
a right footed strike in the 56th minute.
Soon thereafter, this clear penalty
gave Marta the chance to equalize.
Angerer remembered how the Brazilian had gone right
against Australia and guessed she would go left this time.
She guessed correctly.
Germany proved impenetrable.
Their 2-O victory in the final
extended a record setting stretch with no goals conceded
and Marta's squad went home bruised but proud runners up.
They also went home fed up.
Yes, it was Germany who toppled the Brazilians in '07
but they'd faced more than enough obstacles
from their own executive leadership.
After pleading for support at the medal ceremony,
the whole squad signed a letter
sent to the Brazilian Federation
and published in Brazilian newspapers
that listed demands.
Increase their traveling stipend.
Restore the basic amenities a men's team
would never go without.
Schedule more matches and most of all, money.
Money reflective of their success paid on time for once.
(slow music)
Over the next four years, Marta's legend only grew.
She returned from playing in Sweden
to bounce between club teams at home and in the US.
Her time with the Brazilian side Santos alongside
other national team stars was particularly successful
but like so many of Marta's club teams,
the Santos women's program eventually folded.
They wanted to save money in hopes
of keeping Neymar for the men's side.
Nevertheless, Marta kept racking up awards
and at age 25 led the national team
into the 2011 Germany World Cup
and clean through the group stage.
In the quarterfinal, they met a familiar opponent
that despite their rocky lead up to this match
still figured to be tournament favorites, The United States.
The US went up instantly as Shannon Boxx's threatening cross
to Abby Wambach stirred up this Brazilian own goal.
But thanks to officiating, Brazil stuck around.
This take down of Marta, got Rachel Buehler sent off.
Hope Solo actually saved the ensuing
Cristiane penalty kick but drew an iffy whistle
for maybe stepping off her line
and then a card for complaining.
Marta took the redo penalty kick and scored.
The match stayed level through 90 minutes,
but in extra time, Marta's struck again.
The assist, maybe offside, the goal, absolute magic.
Well out of Solo's reach.
- [Commentator] Brazil lead, Marta!
- [Narrator] Brazil had the upset all but wrapped
until one of the latest and greatest goals
in American soccer history.
Moments before the final whistle,
Megan Rapinoe arced a long heat seeking pass
over the Brazilian defense to find
Wambach's forehead for a flying equalizer.
In penalty kicks, Solo, redeemed herself with a save
and Ali Krieger sealed Brazil's heartbreak.
It was a heartbreak Marta saw coming.
Even before the 2011 tournament,
she sounded disillusioned, saying that despite
the players' efforts and protests
Brazil was even less prepared than
their underserved 2007 squad.
They had the talent but did indeed
prove to be a step behind
the United States when push came to shove.
It didn't get better.
The talent remained even as Marta began to slow
but the Federation maintained its disregard.
Vadão a manager with no experience in the women's game
and only modest success in the men's game
took over in 2014 and did little
to improve the team's preparation.
During the 2015 World Cup, a Brazilian women's
soccer executive seemed less interested in Marta
once again, leading her team to the top of their group
than he was in the players wearing makeup and short shorts.
Brazil, flamed out early in the knockout stage
against Australia but still no productive change
was made for the 2016 Olympics where Marta's squad
finished just fourth in their home country.
After that disappointment, Brazilian players
were pleased to get their first female manager, Emily Lima.
Only to see Lima replaced a year later by Vadão.
The notoriously unimaginative coach needed a job.
The Brazilian women's soccer community protested.
The firing, the years of unmet demands
and the corruption, several players,
including the legendary Christiane
abruptly announced their retirements.
The Federation's response proved to be
little more than empty gestures.
And it got worse, Jair Bolsonaro an open misogynist
and homophobe became Brazil's president in 2019
and promptly disbanded the ministry overseeing sports.
A clear blow to women's players who depend on
government subsidies in lieu of sufficient pro contracts.
Brazil entered the 2019 World Cup discouraged
with a string of losses in their wake.
Their performance would finally be televised live
on Brazil's biggest TV channel but it would once again,
compete with the men's Copa America tournament,
which was scheduled at the same time.
Players once again convened from all over the world.
Since professional teams in Brazil
still paid well short of a living wage.
Marta had once contributed to the youngest side
at the '03 tournament.
Now she was 33, an icon and leading
the second oldest squad in France for this World Cup.
The 41 year old Formiga was making
her seventh World Cup appearance.
An unretired Cristiane would lead the team scoring.
Marta scored two penalties to lead Brazil out of
the group stage but she and her teammates were hurting.
Veterans like Marta, Formiga and Christiane
all had nagging injuries.
Several younger players had been ruled out entirely.
Nevertheless Brazil pushed the host nation France
to extra time in a VAR filled round of 16 match.
Moments before the halfway point of that extra time
Brazil's Debinha slipped
a potential winning goal past France's keeper,
but Griedge Mbock Bathy threw herself
in the line of fire at the last possible moment
and French captain Amandine Henry
avoided penalties by punching home
a long free kick in the second half of extra time.
Marta was knocked out of her fifth World Cup.
She saw her team slipping as it stars aged,
unreplenished because the country
still wasn't feeding the system.
In an impassioned post-game speech
broadcast live all over the world.
She pleaded with Brazilian girls to fight against the tide,
to conserve women's soccer,
however hard and unfair it might be.
- [Narrator] And at least the next generation
of Brazilians has Marta to look up to.
A role model the legend herself never had.
At least they will have some grassroots,
some organizations, some people with some power
looking out for their best interests.
Because the story of Marta shows that
even a self- made soccer god
isn't enough to win a World Cup.
Great national teams grow because young talents
can comfortably devote their livelihoods to soccer.
They win because those talents
are well-treated well compensated
and furnished with the best possible
planning and a large audience.
So yes, Marta never won a World Cup for Brazil,
but Marta did not fail Brazil.
She and her star teammates gave their nation
unbelievable passion and skill
for the better part of two decades often without thanks.
Marta never won a World Cup for Brazil
because Brazil failed Marta.
(tense music)