Women's World Cup 2027 MVPs: Dream last dance for the GOAT? Marta eyeing iconic Brazil farewell on home soil

Had you told anyone who watched Marta inspire Brazil to the final of the 2007 Women’s World Cup final that, 20 years later, the Selecao would still be searching for that first title on the big stage, they likely would have been dumbfounded.

Later that year, after Germany had beaten Brazil 2-0 to retain their status as world champions, Marta would win the second of five successive FIFA World Player of the Year awards, though she was not the only star on the national team, even if she was the one who shone brightest.

Around her were players like Cristiane, the prolific forward who twice placed third in voting for the FIFA World Player of the Year award; Formiga, the ageless midfield machine who would become the most capped footballer in international history; Pretinha, who had a knack for scoring big goals in big moments, including five at the World Cup and seven at the Olympics; and Rosana, who racked up more than 100 caps for Brazil and later turned out for European giants Lyon, helping them to win one of their eight Champions League titles.

This was a golden generation of talent that was surely, surely destined to win a World Cup...

Except the funding from the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) didn't come when it should have.

“I actually think the investment should have come a long time before,” Rosana told GOAL previously. “The generation that we had was super, super talented. but in Brazil, unfortunately, it's not like other countries in which the investment comes before. In Brazil, you have to prove yourself and the women's game had to prove itself for the investment to come.”

Brazil were - and still are - dominant on the continent, winning nine of the 10 Copa America Femenina tournaments contested since its introduction in 1991. But the world stage would bring a whole host of near misses, with silver medals at the Olympic Games in both 2004 and 2008 the most notable. This might well have been the best team in the history of women’s football not to win a major international title.

“It's really sad to think about it as I strongly believe the generation we had and the team we had was possibly the strongest Brazil had seen to this day, a team that had won five medals in the space of four years,” Rosana said back in 2021. “Not having the investment come in before for us to be able to achieve this goal is disappointing to think of.”

Away from the national team, Marta’s star continued to grow. She moved to Umea in 2004, when the Swedish league was the place to be in the women’s game. “She landed in half a metre of snow,” Andree Jeglertz, head coach of the team at the time, told GOAL previously. “That was quite cool.”

With Marta, Umea won four successive Damallsvenskan titles and the UEFA Women's Cup (now the Champions League) while also reaching two more European finals. “She didn't do exactly as you said,” Jeglertz recalled, “but she solved every situation her way. That was something that I've learned in my coaching career, that not everybody can be exactly the same kind of player. It's the one that is breaking the pattern who will win the games and the trophies for you.”

Marta would later take those game-changing qualities to the United States, winning two national titles, then back to Sweden, a country where she actually has citizenship and speaks the language fluently, having spent so much time in Scandinavia. All the while, the individual accolades were being racked up, be they Golden Boots, Player of the Year awards or nominations to Best XIs.

But success on the biggest international stages continued to elude her and Brazil. At the 2011 Women’s World Cup, the Selecao could not replicate their 2007 run to the final, falling in the last eight after a penalty shootout defeat to the U.S.. At the Olympics the following year, it was world champions Japan who ended their hopes of glory at the same stage.

In 2015, Brazil would only get as far as the last 16 at the World Cup, with defeat to Australia a cause for concern. A run to the semi-finals at the Olympics in 2016, which they hosted, was better, but defeat in the bronze medal match hurt.

Then came the 2019 Women’s World Cup, which everyone knew would, at best, be one of Marta’s last. She was 33 years old, so participation four years later was no guarantee, and when hosts France prevailed in extra-time of their last-16 clash with the Selecao, the impassioned speech from Brazil's iconic No.10 only enhanced the belief that she may not be back.

With tears in her eyes, Marta looked directly into the camera and spoke from the heart to the next generation: “There's not going to be a Formiga forever, there's not going to be a Marta forever, there's not going to be a Cristiane. Women's football depends on you to survive. Think about it, value it more. We're asking for support. You have to cry at the beginning and smile at the end.”

Having done so much talking with her feet over the years, the GOAT seemed to be realising her footballing mortality, and she was clearly keen to use her platform to send a message while she still could.

Yet, that would not be the end of Marta on the big stage. It looked like 2023 was instead, a belief backed up by more tearful post-match comments after Brazil's shocking group-stage exit in Australia. But Marta could not go out on a note like that, could she?

A year later, aged 38 and in the middle of an NWSL season that would end in her delivering the Shield and Championship titles to the Orlando Pride, she helped Brazil reach a first major international final since 2008 when they made it to the Olympic gold medal match. It was the best result the Selecao had enjoyed on a world stage for some time.

In 2027, she and her team will hope to go one better. No one from that 2007 Women’s World Cup squad remains except for Marta. Twenty years on, she might not be as talismanic as she was during that wonderful month in China, but the legacy of her and her team-mates has helped to pave the way for a new generation of players who are capable of challenging for the World Cup.

And with the armband wrapped around her bicep, it is Marta, the undisputed GOAT of the women’s game, who will lead them out on home soil and hope, with her one final shot, to guide them to glory.