Marta dared one last attack on the world title and failed with Brazil in the preliminary round. Her career ends, her work remains unfinished – but she has brought more to women’s football than any other.
When her era ended, Martha spoke to the people of Brazil. She never shed a tear in front of the camera; Marta did not accept what was perhaps the most painful defeat of her great career with sobs, but with the attitude befitting an icon: Nobody has scored more goals at World Cups, nobody before or since her has had this global, representative importance for women’s football, which grew with Marta – and whose biggest stage she is now leaving after a 0-0 draw against Jamaica that eliminated Brazil in the first round.
