Marta, like Messi, is a legend in search of World Cup fulfilment. This was a good start

Marta didn’t start in Brazil’s opening World Cup match, a comprehensive 4-0 win against a valiant but ultimately inferior Panama on Monday, but she only needed to slide her shin guards into her socks to send the crowd into raptures.

The all-time leading World Cup goal-scorer swapped places with 23-year-old Ary Borges, who’d just completed a hat-trick, in the 75th minute, a symbolic substitution that was almost too on the nose: one of the most iconic figures in football relieving a young superstar for the final moments of a game that had already been put to bed.

Advertisement

The more magical and beloved the player, the stronger the desire to wrap them in mystical folklore, and, when the time is right, tie everything together in a neat, happy ending. If that process hadn’t already begun before Marta announced that this World Cup would be her last, it was certainly accelerated by it, and it was spurred by the eerily similar fairytale about another football legend seeking fulfilment: Lionel Messi.

Like Messi heading into last year’s World Cup, Marta is searching for the final jewel in her crown as the ‘Queen of Soccer’, as they affectionately call her in Brazil. It’s a convenient comparison, and there’s a satisfying balance of time, geography, and gender that makes it even more irresistible.

But key distinctions between Marta and Brazil, and Messi and Argentina, make the former’s journey arguably even more enjoyable. Unlike the narrative around ‘Messi’s Argentina’, which depicts a lone superstar desperately in need of a supporting cast to propel him to glory, Marta is surrounded by consummate talents in their own right. Borges, along with players like Debinha, Geyse, Kerolin, and Rafaelle, are just as determined to usher Marta