Marta’s might
When Marta converted a penalty in Brazil’s group game against Italy in the women’s World Cup on Tuesday, June 18, 2019, she not only gave them a 1-0 win that put them through to the knock-out stages of the tournament, but also gave herself a goal-scoring record.
For with that goal, she became the outright all-time leading scorer at men’s or women’s senior FIFA World Cup tournaments.
Brazil might have been knocked out of the tournament when they lost the Round of 16 clash to hosts France 2-1, but it is going to take a lot more to knock Marta off her perch.
Here’s how it happened…
Playing at Stade du Hainaut in Valenciennes, France, Brazil needed a positive result to progress to the Round of 16 from the group stages. With a little over 15 minutes left, the score still read nil-nil when Brazilian Debinha was adjudged to have been fouled by Elena Linari inside the penalty area. Marta made no mistake from the spot, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way to claim her record goal and then celebrated it by kissing her boot.
That goal put her right on top of the list, above Ronaldo and Miroslav Klose. This is how the top three stack up:
1) Brazil’s Marta
World Cups played: 5 (2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019)
World Cup matches played: 20
World Cup goals scored: 17
2) Germany’s Miroslav Klose
World Cups played: 4 (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)
World Cup matches played: 24
World Cup goals scored: 16
3) Brazil’s Ronaldo
World Cups played: 3 (1998, 2002, 2006)
World Cup matches played: 19
World Cup goals scored: 15
Now that you have learnt all this, you should be able to complete this exercise with ease.
Photos: REUTERS, AP