Marta, the Most Shinning Star at the 2007 World Cup
Marta, the most shinning star at the 2007 World Cup, scored seven times to top the scorer list. Her amazing dribbling1 skills, incredible quick pace and innate2 scoring instinct stunned3 the world and gave Brazil their first-ever final and a silver medal. Marta was awarded the Golden Shoe and Golden Ball.
“If there is one player capable of marketing4 women’s football to a global audience, it is Marta,” wrote The Telegraph’s Oliver Brown. “The lithe5 Brazilian striker...has become her nation’s icon6.”
Since Marta could not play organized football in Brazil, she moved to Sweden to develop her game when she was 18. There, she earned the nickname “Pele in a skirt”.
She certainly lived up to her nickname at the 2007 World Cup. In a beautiful move against the US in the semifinals8, Marta kicked the ball over one defender and then sent the ball bouncing into the net. The amazing goal became a YouTube9 sensation10. “Any game against US was tough11, so it was a fantastic12 win and we make history,” said Marta after the match.
It was the first time for Brazil, who had not won any FIFA13 Women’s World Cup or Olympic soccer tournament14 title, to advance to a World Cup final. Brazil also ended the United States’ 51-game unbeaten run.
“The whole team was full of passion. So it was a victory of the team, not myself,” Marta said. She also expressed gratitude to her partner up front15 Cristiane and midfielder Daniela who gave her full support on the pitch.
US coach Greg Ryan said, “I got two players to mark Marta. But she was fantastic.”
Before coming to China, Marta told reporters, “I just can’t wait for it to start. I don’t know if we’ll win it, but we’ll certainly be going there with the firm belief that anything is possible.”
Chilled16 to Perfection
Marta caught people’s eyes when she took part in the FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship Canada 2002 at the age of 16. And a year later she was back in the global spotlight17 at the FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 2003.
In 2006, Marta beat Prinz to be named the FIFA’s Women’s Player of the Year.
Rene Simoes coached Brazil’s women’s team at the 2004 Olympics. He compares Marta to another Brazilian centre-forward18—the great Romario, with whom he has also worked. “They are very similar,” he says. “Whether playing dominoes19, cards, or football—neither of them accepts losing.”
Simoes says Marta’s technique is as good as the men’s. “Her ball control at speed is fabulous20. She thinks fast. She is always scoring. I think in the history of women’s football only [American] Mia Hamm has been a better player. But Marta is much more creative. And she is only 21. In two years’ time, she will overtake21 Mia to be the best.”
Marta was born on Feb. 19, 1986 in Dois Riachos, a town in the north-east of Brazil. When it rains, crops grow. When it doesn’t—which is most of the time—there is little work to go round. Marta’s father was a barber22. He left her mother when Marta was just a baby, condemning23 the family—Marta has two elder brothers and a sister—to poverty and struggle. “We didn’t have enough money even to buy a football,” Marta said. “If my mum had done that we would have gone without food.”
She began to play football in the streets with local boys. When none of them had a ball, they would make one by folding up plastic bags. When Marta played football, many of the boys mocked24 her. “They would insult25 me, say that I had no shame. Sometimes, I’d try to fight them. I might have been small but I was a tough little girl.”
She was often called a “man-girl”. “Even now in Brazil you hear comments like that,” Marta says. There was resistance, too, within her family. Her eldest brother was opposed to her playing what was, in effect, a game for boys. “He had heard people mock me, and so he wanted to protect me.”
Playing with boys did have benefits, however. Marta picked up26 their favorite skills—dribbling and flamboyant27 ball control. She developed into a creative centre-forward (her role model is Rivaldo). In February 2004, she became the first Brazilian woman to play professionally in Europe.
Marta helped Umea to win the Swedish championship in 2005 and 2006. She is the best-paid female footballer in the league (she refuses to say how much she earns, although adds that it doesn’t compare to the men’s game) and is a much bigger star in Sweden than in Brazil—where, before she won her FIFA award, she was scarcely known at all. She speaks Swedish and feels that Umea, less than 200 miles from the Arctic Circle28, is her second home.“The cold was a challenge,” she says.“I went from 35 degrees every day in Brazil to a place where it reaches minus 22 in the winter. But my life has always been about breaking barriers29. I saw everything as a challenge.”
玛塔——2007年女足世界杯上最耀眼的星星
玛塔，这颗2007年女足世界杯上最闪亮的星星，以7粒进球荣居射手榜榜首。她那令人惊叹的运球技术、难以置信的速度以及与生俱来的进球天赋，让世人震惊，引领巴西队有史以来第一次闯入决赛，并获得银牌。玛塔因此被授予金靴和金球两项大奖。
“如果有哪个球员可以为女足吸引来全世界的观众，那一定是玛塔，”《电讯报》的记者奥利佛·布朗写道，“这位身手敏捷的巴西前锋成了国人的偶像。”
由于玛塔不能在巴西参加有组织的足球比赛，18岁时她去了瑞典磨砺球技。在那里，她获得了“穿裙子的贝利”的绰号。
在2007年的世界杯比赛中，她的表现无愧于这个称号。在迎战美国队的精彩半决赛中，玛塔射门时，足球越过守门员直接弹入网中，这个令人惊叹的进球在You Tube引起了极大轰动。
玛塔在比赛结束后说：“与美国队的每次比赛都很艰难，这次赢得十分漂亮，我们创造了一次历史性的胜利。”
这是巴西女足第一次打入世界杯决赛，以前巴西还从来没有获得过女足世界杯和奥运会女子足球冠军，巴西也就此结束了美国女足连续51场不败的记录。
“整个队伍都充满激情，这次胜利是全队的胜利，不是我一个人的，”玛塔说。她也向她的搭档前锋克里斯蒂娜和中场丹尼尔表达谢意，她们在比赛中给予了她全力支持。
美国教练格雷·瑞恩说：“我用两名球员去防守玛塔，可她的表现实在是太出色了！”
在来中国之前，玛塔就曾告诉记者：“我已经等不及比赛开始了。我不知道我们是否会赢，但是我们怀着坚定的信念去那里比赛，我们相信一切皆有可能。”
严寒铸就完美
玛塔16岁那年参加了2002年加拿大国际足联19岁以下女足锦标赛，开始崭露头角。一年后，她在2003年美国女足世界杯中再次成为世界的焦点。
2006年，玛塔击败普林茨成为世界足球小姐。
雷恩·西莫斯担任2004年巴西奥运女子足球队教练，他把玛塔同另外一个他合作过的巴西中场——伟大的罗马里奥进行了比较。“他们很相似，”他说，“无论是在玩多米诺骨牌还是纸牌，或是踢球，他们都不允许失败。”
西莫斯认为玛塔的球技巾帼不让须眉：“她高速奔跑时控球能力极强。她反应敏捷，总能进球。我认为，在女足历史上，只有美国的米娅·哈姆打得比她好，但是玛塔更具有创造力。她才21岁，两年后她会超过米娅成为最棒的选手。”
玛塔1986年2月19日出生于巴西东北部的一个叫杜伊·里亚柯斯的小镇。那里，下雨的时候庄稼才生长，不下雨的时候——这种情况几乎是常事——人们几乎无事可做。玛塔的父亲是个理发师，当玛塔还是个婴儿时，他就离开了玛塔的母亲，使得这个家庭陷入贫困艰难的处境。玛塔还有两个哥哥，一个姐姐。“我们甚至没有足够的钱去买一只足球，”玛塔说，“如果我母亲买了球，那我们就没钱吃饭了。”
玛塔开始是和邻家男孩们在街上踢足球。他们都没有球的时候，就常常会用塑料袋叠一个球。玛塔踢球的时候，很多男孩子嘲笑她。“他们会辱骂我，说我不知羞耻。有时候，我会和他们打架，我那时候也许很小，但已经是个厉害的小姑娘了。”
她常常被叫做“假小子”。“即使是在今天的巴西，你也可以听到那样的评价，”玛塔说。她家里也有人反对，她大哥反对她踢球，觉得这是男孩子的游戏。“他听到人们嘲笑我，他就想保护我。”
和男孩踢球确实对玛塔有好处，她学到了他们最得意的球技——运球以及花哨的控球技术。她后来成为了具有创造力的中卫（她的榜样是里瓦尔多）。2004年2月，她成为第一个在欧洲踢球的巴西职业女球员。
玛塔协助于默奥队于2005年和2006年两次获得瑞典锦标赛冠军。她是联盟中薪水最高的球员（她拒绝透露薪水数目，尽管她说薪水不能和男球员相比）。她在瑞典的名气比在巴西大——在她获得足联奖项之前，巴西人几乎都不知道她。她会说瑞典语，感觉这个离北极圈不足200英里的于默奥是她的第二家乡。“寒冷确实是个挑战，”她说，“我从日均35度的巴西来到这个冬天温度达零下22度的地方。但我一直不断克服人生道路上的障碍，我把每一件事都看成是一种挑战。”
1. dribble v. 运球前进
2. innate adj. 天生的
3. stun v. 使目瞪口呆；使发愣
4. market v. 推销
5. lithe adj. 轻快的，柔软的
6. icon n. 偶像
7. live up to 做到; 无愧于(自已的声望等)
8. semifinal n. 半决赛
9. YouTube 美国一个非常著名的视频网站，让使用者上载观看及分享视频短片。
10. sensation n. 轰动
11. tough adj. 艰难的
12. fantastic adj. 奇异的，极好的
13. FIFA: Federation Internationale de Football Association 国际足球联盟
14. tournament n. 锦标赛
15. up front 前锋
16. chill v. 使感到冷
17. spotlight n. 关注的焦点
18. centre-forward 中锋
19. domino n. （复）多米诺骨牌
20. fabulous adj. 极好的，难以置信的
21. overtake v. 超越，超过
22. barber n. 理发师
23. condemn v. 迫使处于不良境地
24. mock v. 嘲笑，讥笑
25. insult v. 欺负，侮辱
26. pick up 学会
27. flamboyant adj. 浮夸的，炫耀的
28. the Arctic Circle 北极圈
29. barrier n. 障碍，阻拦