Marta fought back tears as she exited the Olympic stage one last time.
After 185 appearances for Brazil, including six World Cups and six Olympics, one of the sport’s greats had one more shot at a major international title on Saturday.
Olympic gold eluded her, again.
Marta, though, could still see the positives despite a 1-0 loss to the United States in the Olympic final.
“A feeling of pride, a lot of pride,” she told reporters afterward. “I don’t think that when I won the silver medal both times, in 2004 and 2008, I felt as much pride as I do right now with this silver medal.
“Because it’s been 16 years of waiting to get back to an Olympic final and from the team’s record in previous competitions, let’s be honest, almost nobody believed that Brazil would get to an Olympic final, that Brazil would leave here with a medal.”
At the age of 38, Marta said ahead of the Paris Games that it would be her last major tournament with the national team. There was to be no perfect ending for a player who has been a flag-bearer for women’s soccer as the U.S. consigned her to silver once again.
It’s an all-too familiar experience for the six-time world player of the year. The U.S. has proved a frequent roadblock to her international ambitions.
Add Paris 2024 to Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. On all three occasions Marta and Brazil were beaten to gold by the Americans.
And so three silvers are the pinnacle of her achievements in international soccer, along with a runner-up medal at the 2007 World Cup. For all her brilliance — scoring a record 119 goals for her country — she never managed to deliver a major international title.
But she did go mighty close in a tumultuous last campaign.
There were tears of anguish when she thought her Olympics had ended with a red card against Spain in the group phase. Tears of joy when watching on from the stands as Brazil eliminated host nation France in the quarterfinals and frustration again when an appeal to have her suspension reduced was overruled and she missed the semifinals as well.
There were emotional scenes again as she embraced Brazil coach Arthur Elias in the middle of the field at the end of Saturday’s final, and she was applauded as she exited the stage.
“The trust we placed in coach Arthur’s work and the way we were able to deal with the ups and downs of this competition — athletes were injured, I had to miss two games, people started talking negatively: ‘Marta has to play, Marta doesn’t have to play.’
“It wasn’t the time for that, the time was to close ourselves off and we really tried to minimize these obstacles, we closed ourselves off and we reached the final.”
Marta says it is time to hand over to the next generation but as she makes her exit she again urged for women’s soccer in Brazil to receive more support.
“This medal here represents the recovery of the pride we have in seeing that women’s football in Brazil can be competitive,” she added. “There’s talent, but it needs to be better valued, damn it! There are a lot of people who don’t watch women’s football, but when we lose they’re the first to comment, the first to go and talk about it.
“All the titles we’ve won, whether individual or collective, in women’s football, are for those people who have always believed in us from the first moment, and many of whom were in the stands here giving us that support, you know, family, friends. We owe this to them and I share my gratitude with them. We don’t owe anything to those others who take advantage of the moment and talk a lot of rubbish.”
Her teammates did her proud in her absence to give her one last shot at gold and it was perhaps indicative of her waning impact that she was left out of the starting lineup against the U.S.
Gabi Portilho, Adriana and Ludmila have underlined Brazil’s attacking depth.
And that trio helped Brazil dominate the chances in the first half — but couldn’t replicate the cutting edge that had seen them blow away world champion Spain in the semifinals.
In the 61st it was Marta time. With Brazil trailing to Mallory Swanson’s goal minutes earlier, Elias sent for a national soccer icon.
Cheers echoed around Parc des Princes, and there were gasps of anticipation after her first touch and again when she stood over a free kick late on in the match.
It was Adriana, however, who went closest to an equalizer, when her header was saved by U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher in stoppage time.
Marta’s one complaint was reserved for the referee, who she said denied Brazil what should have been a penalty, adding: “We already knew that playing against the USA would be difficult because we have to play against them and usually against the referees too.”
As the fulltime whistle blew, Marta was quick to console teammate Angelina around the halfway line before sharing embraces with members of coaching staff.
An Olympic journey that had started when she was just 18 in Athens, ended with another final, another medal. Just not the one she was so desperate to get her hands on.
“I’m crying here out of gratitude and happiness,” Marta said. “I’m not crying here regretting that we got the silver. Look how much we had to overcome in this competition to get to this final.
“So this silver, as I said, is a reminder of the pride we have to feel when we put on the shirt of the Brazilian national team and represent our country, playing with joy, will, determination and perseverance, as we did in every game. Silver here, gold in life.”
There have been hopes that Marta could reverse her decision to walk away from international soccer this year and be tempted to take the field for one more tournament when Brazil hosts the next Women’s World Cup in 2027.
So where will she be in three years’ time?
“In the stadium, applauding the girls,” she declared.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.