The glaring gap in world’s greatest soccer country was filled when Marta broke through Brazil’s machismo attitude toward the sport. From the WICC Best XI video series:
Jean-Michel Aulas on creating the world’s top women’s club team
Kelly Simmons on the rise of English women’s soccer
Women’s soccer reform leader Moya Dodd
French star Wendie Renard on realizing her childhood soccer dreams
Bibiana Steinhaus on blazing a trail in the referee world
Megan Rapinoe on athletes’ activism and speaking for people who don’t have a platform
Jill Ellis’ rise to World Cup-winner and her quest to boost women coaches
Meg Linehan on covering the women’s game
A women’s soccer hero Khalida Popal — defying Taliban tyranny
Sarai Bareman — from New Zealand and Samoa to FIFA’s women’s soccer chief
I am thrilled Caterina Macario has moved to the US, played at Stanford and is now poised to play for the USWNT. A part of me is sad that the Brazil program has lost stature and I would have enjoyed watching Marta and Catarina get that program back into the top 5 again.