It was only a year ago when Marta left the Olympic final with tears in her eyes, making the end of a legendary career in the Brazilian national football team marked emotionally.
It appears that the six -time World Player of the Year was not completely ready.
The 39-year-old attacker has retired and plays in the Copa América Femenina in Ecuador. The Brazilians have won eight titles in the most important women’s tournament for South America.
The Copa América is one of the three large continental ladies tournaments this summer, together with the European Championship and the Africa Cup of Nations.
Although Marta had left the national team, Brazil coach Arthur Elias withdrew her at the end of May for a few friendly matches against Japan. Marta started at the end of June in another Copa América tuning against France.
The career of Marta’s national team has overstrained for more than 20 years. She played in 204 games for Brazil and scored 119 goals. | Photocredit: Jean Carniel
The career of Marta’s national team has overstrained for more than 20 years. She played in 204 games for Brazil and scored 119 goals. | Photocredit: Jean Carniel
Marta said she just lives in the moment.
«My work does not change, the feeling does not change, the pride does not change, the desire to help the team do not change, and it will never, regardless of whether I play or not. But the way I see things, not only here in the team, but I think that in my daily life there is a different way,» she said in a news conference when she brought back.
«I am aware that I don’t have many years more to play, so the few I have, I want to make the best of it.»
Before last year’s Paris matches, Marta said that after the Olympic Games she would withdraw from the national team to make way for the next generation of players. The Brazilians then won the silver medal after a 1-0 loss for the United States in the final.
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But she continued to play for her club team, Orlando Pride, in the National Women’s Soccer League. Last season she scored 11 goals with the Pride, which won the NWSL title.
She again signed with the team until 2026 earlier this year.
In general, Marta’s career has covered the career of the national team for more than 20 years. She played in 204 games for Brazil and scored 119 goals.
She played in six world cups and six Olympic Games. The best finish of Brazil on the World Cup was second in 2007.
The nation has reached the Olympic final three times, also in Paris, but a gold medal has remained out of reach.
Marta started in the Copa América opener of Brazil, a 2-0 win over Venezuela, then came from the bank in a 6-0 win over Bolivia. The next one is a match against Paraguay on Tuesday.
She said that she will accept every role that Elias gives her and realizes that Brazil has a large number of talented young players, including the 25-year-old Kerolin, who plays professional for Manchester City, and the 22-year-old Luany, who plays for Atlético Madrid.
But there is also an elephant in the room: the World Cup for Women is coming to the home country of Marta in 2027.
Previously, Marta said that she didn’t see herself play in it – she would be 41 – but she did not exactly exclude the possibility.
Marta has played in six world cups and six Olympic Games. The best finish of Brazil at the World Cup came in second in 2007. Photocredit: Reuters
Marta has played in six world cups and six Olympic Games. The best finish of Brazil at the World Cup came in second in 2007. Photocredit: Reuters
«The coach has always made it very clear that he is the best at the moment, regardless of age. And I think the way he does it is the rightest way,» she said.
«It makes no sense to get here and say:» I’ll play in the World Cup in two years. «It will depend on what happens in my daily life, and that’s why I think today in this way and I live one day at the same time.»
She can also have another plan for her future.
«I still have a very strong desire to become a mother. So maybe one day I wake up and I decide to call my doctor and see if it is still possible,» she said in a recent interview with Globo’s spectacular sport.
