Brazil, eliminated from the World Cup by Jamaica, remains stunned again | Women’s Soccer World Cup 2023

Once again, Brazil has not given the stature in a World Cup, this time down to the first exchange after beating Panama, losing to France and drawing on Wednesday with Jamaica, which has achieved a historic pass as second in the group. Brazil, again and despite the work of the federation, remains stunned, a morrocotudo fiasco.

The history of the women’s team tells that the World Cup, contrary to what happens with the men’s team —five-time champions and with more laurels than any other team— is a chimera. They were eliminated twice in the group stage (1991 and 1995), twice in the round of 16 (2015 and 2019) and in the quarterfinals (2003 and 2011), third in 1999 and runner-up in 2007. Without glory and now with sorrow, because he left the forum the hard way when he was unable to overcome Jamaica. And that the Brazilian Football Confederation took pains to correct the flaw since 2019, when it hired Pia Sundhage for the bench —she had gone through the United States and Sweden—, while requiring professional teams to section a team female. Fallow land that seemed to bear fruit with new sap, the case of Ary Borges —hat-trick in the first clash against Panama— Kerolin, Geyse… But there is more, because the CBF had taken it seriously. But not with those.

A clear example was that they integrated a gynecologist and obstetrician, Tathiana Parmigiano, into the coaching staff, who reviews the hormonal cycle of the players and tries to understand what each one needs. Thus, although she did not travel to New Zealand, Tathiana maintained daily contact with the players, who downloaded an application on their mobile phones to answer questions about their menstrual cycle and how they felt. In addition, she was in contact with all the members of the coaching staff to consult situations with the physical trainer or nutritionist.

On the other hand, before going to the World Cup, Sundhage had to explain the plan he had to face the tournament in a meeting that was understood as constructive, since he met with the president of the federation, Ednaldo Rodrigues, with the general supervisor of women’s football , Ana Lorena Marche, as well as the national soccer secretary, José Luís Ferrarezi, and the director of soccer policies and promotion of women’s soccer, Sandra Maria dos Santos. Once the project was approved, the country turned to the team, which first concentrated on the Comary Farm (Tersópolis) and then left for Australia, to the state of Queensland, on the Gold Coast, where it set up its base camp. And it was then that the CBF had the detail of putting a letter from the relatives of the players in each one’s room. Marta Vieira, 40, six times winner of the FIFA award for the best in the world although with a secondary role in this World Cup, tearfully showed a video on social networks of the letter from her mother Tereza and her girlfriend Carrie Lawrence, who he plays with her in the Orlando Pride of the United States league.

“When I started I didn’t have a female idol. It did not happen on television and I could not imagine that it would make it to the national team, to be a benchmark. Now, they stop you and tell you that their daughters want to be like you, like us. It would not have happened if we had stopped at the first obstacles. It is a pride. In 2003, nobody knew Marta, now I am the reference for many women. We have opened doors for equality”, reflected Marta, emotional and in tears, before taking on Jamaica and questioned about the evolution of women’s football. The player, who scored in five World Cups and in this one fell short of the record for scoring goals in six different ones, will always be a benchmark in Brazil and women’s football. But the new generations will surely not pay too much attention to this team, thrown out of the World Cup right off the bat.