Current, former stars pay homage to Marta's legacy: 'There will never be another'
Brazil's stunning exit in the group stage of the 2023 FIFA World Cup means that Marta's storied international career is over. The Seleção legend is considered one of the greatest women's soccer players, if not the greatest, of all time. She has also been a forceful advocate for support for women's soccer and for equality in the sport.
"We opened the doors to equality," she said during an emotional postgame press conference Wednesday.
Marta, 37, holds the record for the most World Cup goals scored, women or men, with 17. She was the first player to score in five consecutive Women’s World Cups, debuting at the 2003 tournament.
"Her legacy continues; it doesn’t end here," her Brazil teammate Ary Borges said. "[Marta] is a woman who will continue to inspire not only my generation, but [future] generations."
Brazil's failure to advance to the knockouts after its scoreless draw with Jamaica on Wednesday means that Marta will retire without a long-coveted World Cup trophy, but she still leaves a profound legacy on and off the pitch.
Carli Lloyd knows a thing or two about leaving an impact. As she recently discussed with FOX Sports insider Martin Rogers, the USWNT legend used a team ceremony honoring her before her final game in 2021 to speak out against complacency she believed was starting to set in among the team's culture. (Lloyd, now FOX Sports' lead women's soccer analyst, doubled down on that criticism publicly after the U.S. failed to score in a group stage draw with heavy underdog Portugal on Tuesday.)
Lloyd knows what it is like to use one's platform as a women's soccer player to try to push the game forward, something Marta has done repeatedly over the years and did again after her Brazil career ended Wednesday. And Lloyd has nothing but awe for how Marta has done it.
"We’re seeing someone that has that GOAT status and has done so much for girls around the world, [including] for myself," Lloyd said Wednesday on "World Cup Tonight." "She’s been an incredibly difficult player to play against, the most skillful player that I’ve ever seen, and she will go down as one of the greatest of all time. There will never, ever be another Marta because she truly was so special. I’m just thankful that I was, unfortunately, able to play against her. She was an unbelievable person and player."
Lloyd waited 10 years after her senior USWNT debut to finally hoist a World Cup trophy in 2015, so she also understands to an extent the desire that Marta still had, 20 years after the Brazilian's World Cup debut, to lift that same trophy.
"She’s carried this Brazil team for so long and won World Player of the Years and all these other accolades, but in seeing her recently at a little commercial shoot that we did, you could tell she was longing for that World Cup victory," Lloyd said.
"World Cup Tonight" crew reflects on Marta's legacy
Lloyd was one of many of Marta's contemporaries to pay homage Wednesday. Jamaica star Khadija "Bunny" Shaw shared a heartfelt embrace and conversation with Marta after their match, with one hand resting over her heart and the other holding Marta’s hand.
"I just told her that she’s not just an inspiration for me, but for a lot of young girls in the Caribbean and around the world," Shaw said.
Shaw's teammate Cheyna Matthews agreed, calling Marta "a trailblazer for us women."
"I can’t thank her enough," Matthews said. "I hate that it had to be this way, but this is what she’s been fighting for, is for us all to be able to play this game and play it well and get the recognition."
Lloyd's fellow "World Cup Tonight" panelist Karina LeBlanc said that impact was obvious just by watching Shaw's body language as the 37-year-old Brazilian legend spoke to her.
"I remember speaking with Bunny years ago and Marta was her hero," LeBlanc said. "You’re talking about a player that not only changed the game in her country, but changed it around the world."
LeBlanc faced Marta in international competitions as Canada's longtime goalkeeper and still gets an up-close glimpse as general manager of the Portland Thorns in the NWSL, in which Marta has played the past several years with the Orlando Pride.
"I used to love playing against her because she had that passion and that enthusiasm, but I hated it because she was so good," LeBlanc said. "She continues to be good, she continues to impact. We saw at the end of the last World Cup, the passion she had in that speech. That’s a testament to why many of those Brazilian players got into the game. She’s helped raised the bar and the standard for the women’s game.
"She’s been that big name that everyone wanted to cover. You could turn on any channel anywhere in the world and they were talking about Marta. Few people will be able to do what Marta did. Actually, nobody will."
FOX Soccer analyst Alexi Lalas, another member of the "World Cup Tonight" panel, believes that Marta's influence transcends her sport. He also called attention to something Marta said before the match against Jamaica, when she spoke about the lack of female athlete role models for her despite growing up in soccer-rich Brazil.
"She became the very thing she said she didn’t have as a kid," Lalas said. "It’s not just Brazilian players, and it’s not even just soccer. She transcended the sport and people knew her name from what she did on the soccer field, but [she] added all of this other wonderful stuff. She talked about the sport and sometimes demanded that you pay attention, demanded that others give the proper time, respect and resources to these players and to the game."
Lalas believes that Marta is already seeing her legacy play out through smaller women's soccer national programs now in a position to have success in the expanded 64-team field at this World Cup.
"When we see a South Africa or we see a Jamaica have these wonderful moments, they stand on the shoulders that came before them," Lalas said. "When the history of soccer is written — not just the women’s game, but the game of soccer — Marta is going to be a huge part."
Marta admitted Wednesday that she started getting sentimental as she looked at the moon in Melbourne, trying to summon a way to create or score the goal that Brazil needed to keep progressing at the World Cup. She saw her younger teammates looking for inspiration, and knew she had to dig deep.
"Especially because it was their first World Cup and it’s just the beginning," she said. "I won’t play in another World Cup, but they will have other opportunities. So I had to stop lamenting. It’s football. We tried from start to finish; we tried to score, but the ball didn’t want to go in."
Marta knows there will be critics who'll have plenty to say about Brazil's performance here. She's also reassured that there is enough support for women's soccer to keep the game growing.
"Women’s football doesn’t end here. Women’s football in Brazil doesn’t end here," she said. "We need to understand this."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
