Newsmaker: Marta (Brazil)

By Jesse Campigotto

Pele. Zico. Ronaldo. Ronaldinho. The icons of Brazilian soccer need no introduction. Nor a second name.

Though she may not be in the class of those legends (yet), Marta has the game – and the moniker – to join the long line of soccer royalty produced by her futbol-mad nation.

That much was evident at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. Showcasing a dazzling array of talents – imaginative attacking, pinpoint passing, a laser-like shot – the 2006 FIFA world player of the year simply dominated the competition, scoring a tournament-high 12 of her team's 33 goals as Brazil won all seven of its matches en route to capturing the gold medal.

Especially spectacular was the 21-year-old midfielder's performance against Canada, which Marta abused to the tune of five goals in a 7-0 Brazilian rout in the group stage.

“She’s a sneaky, sneaky player,” Canada defender Martina Franko told the Globe and Mail. “I was pulling her shirt, pulling her back. … What else do you do? I’ve never played anybody as fast as her. I’ve never seen anyone who runs as fast as you, then as soon as she touches the ball, gets faster.”

The 5-foot-3 Marta, who plays professionally for Sweden's Umea IK, also came up big in the tournament's most important match. Using her deadly accurate left foot, she netted a pair of penalty-kick goals to lead Brazil to a 5-0 drubbing of the United States in the gold-medal game in front of 70,000 fans at the famous Maracana Stadium.

As the staggering attendance figure for the final match suggests, the brilliance of Marta and her teammates helped generate some much-needed buzz in Brazil, a nation that has been relatively slow to embrace women's athletics.

"We showed to the country what women’s soccer can do, what potential it has,” a teary Marta said in a post-gold medal match press conference. “Of course there is prejudice [in Brazil], and that makes things much more difficult for women, not only in soccer but many other sports. We are trying to find our place."

Her command performance at the Pan Ams earned Marta a historic place in Brazilian sport as she became the first woman to be inducted into Maracana's walk of fame, concrete imprints of her lightning-quick feet joining those of male legends such as Ronaldo, Romario, Garrincha and, of course, Pele.

The king of Brazilian soccer was sufficiently moved by Marta's play at the Pan Ams that he placed a congratulatory phone call to the woman some have taken to calling "Pele in skirts."

"Actually it was my assistant, Pepito, who made the comparison. And I agree," the non-skirted Pele said of the woman who sports his No. 10 on her back. "And I'll say this: she has an advantage because her legs are prettier than mine."

If Marta can continue her eye-catching play when the beautiful games comes to China, her future – and that of the women's game in Brazil – will look even better.