It will go down as one of the greatest performances in women's football. Unfancied Brazil thrashed the USA 4-0 in the semi-final of the Women's World Cup yesterday and put themselves through to their first-ever final.
To put it in context, the USA team had not suffered a defeat in 51 international games; the Americans are, ironically, the Brazil of women's football.
Brazil's star was Marta da Silva (right) the tournament's 21-year-old top scorer. She displayed her full range of tricks - a two-footed Maradona-turn, a Ronaldo-like samba over a static ball and a flick round the back of a defender a la Bergkamp to score one of two goals.
But despite the Brazilians' glory run, news of the victory will make few waves back home. In a country where players in the men's game are held up as demi-gods, the women's |
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Success in the World Cup could finally propel Brazil’s female players to stardom, says gibby zobel |
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game has gone unfunded and unloved.
Brazil has no national domestic women's league and all its star players, like Marta, are forced to ply their trade abroad.
Curiously, it was a Brazilian who kick-started women's involvement in professional football. After a mammoth battle with Fifa, Lea Campos became the world's first female referee in 1974.
They are a common sight in top-flight Brazilian (men's) football, although their place in society is best illustrated by lineswoman Ana Paula de Oliveira, 29, who posed naked for Playboy earlier this year.
It was a similar story for Milene Domingues, the world champion at keep-me-ups. She only found fame when she married - and later divorced - Brazil's Ronaldo. That could all change if Brazil beat the Germans in the final in Shanghai on Sunday.
Final: Sunday 12.45pm, BBC2
FIRST POSTED SEPTEMBER 27, 2007 |
Brazil beat USA