Brazilian Women’s Soccer Chief Focused on Looks, Not Talent

Brazil is one of the favorites to win the Women’s World Cup (WWC) currently taking place, and the team has excelled to a perfect two wins in two matches in group play. Yet for Brazil’s top women’s soccer official, Marco Aurelio Cunha, the talent on the field doesn’t matter as long as the players look pretty for the spectators.

 “Now the women are getting more beautiful, putting on make-up. They go in the field in an elegant manner,” Cunha said in a June 14th article from Canada’s The Globe and Mail. “Women’s football used to copy men’s football. Even the jersey model, it was more masculine. We used to dress the girls as boys. So the team lacked a spirit of elegance, femininity. Now the shorts are a bit shorter, the hairstyles are more done up. It’s not a woman dressed as a man.”

Cunha later claimed his comments were taken out of context and were not meant to sound chauvinist.

His remarks appeared as part of a news piece calling attention to how women’s soccer has been largely ignored in Brazil. Sadly this has been the case in the case of most Latin American nations whose women’s teams are participating at this year’s WWC.

Take the case of Colombia, which shocked France last Saturday in one of the biggest upsets in WWC history but is the only South American country without a female national soccer league.  Ecuadoran columnist Alejandro Ribadeneira, meanwhile, bemoaned the local press for generally ignoring the women’s national team despite La Tri qualifying to the tournament for the first time.

Rather than emphasizing appearances, national soccer federation leaders like Cunha perhaps should reflect inward and provide greater support to promoting and nurturing players. Last month Mexican soccer officials announced the launch of two new ladies youth competitions that will begin playing in September.

“The CBF (Brazilian soccer federation) doesn’t give a damn,” said Fernando Ferreira, the head of Brazil’s leading sports-development consultancy firm. The CBF has recently announced a $15 million investment in the women’s game yet Helena Pacheco, the former coach of Brazilian soccer star Marta, noted that the federation and affiliated soccer clubs must do more:

Daily Headlines: July 4, 2011

* Brazil: A pair of goals by Marta helped Brazil qualify to the quarterfinals of the Women's World Cup while the men began the Copa America with a tepid 0-0 tie against Venezuela.

* Venezuela: “Libertarian socialist” Noam Chomsky, who had one of his books become an overnight bestseller after it was publicly praised by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, blasted him for his “assault on democracy.”

* Puerto Rico: The commonwealth’s police chief resigned on Saturday after facing mounting criticism over a high crime rate.

* Chile: Fourteen of the 33 miners rescued in an operation that captured global attention last year are seeking early pension benefits.

Image – Jens Meyer/Associated Press via CBC Sports (“Marta, second from left, scored two goals and set up another by teammate Rosana, far left, in Brazil's 3-0 win over Norway on Sunday.”)
Online Sources- The Guardian, AFP, Boston.com, LAHT

Today’s Video: Marta magic

Could Brazilian soccer superstar Marta soon ply her trade with some of the top men’s players in the English Premier League? Probably not though she certainly has the talent to play brilliantly:

We hope you enjoyed our April Fool’s Day posts on Friday. We’ll be back on Monday to cover more serious news items from the Americas.

Video Source - YouTube
Online Source – MirrorFootball.co.uk

Today’s Video: Marta

Over the past few days we’ve featured videos on interesting Latin American women from the fields of literature, journalism, and politics. Tonight we look at another field (so to speak): sports.

Her real name is Marta Vieira da Silva but she is best-known simply by her first name. Marta is a phenomenal Brazilian striker who is the reigning FIFA Women's World Player of the Year since 2005. She has won a pair of Olympic silver medals for Brazil in women’s soccer and was named the best player in the 2007 Women’s World Cup. She will play for the Los Angeles Sol of the inaugural Women's Professional Soccer which begins later this month.

The following is likely Marta’s best goal which she scored against the U.S. during the ’07 World Cup. The Brazilian announcer was on the nose when he screamed that “there are no words to describe the goal by Marta”!

Online Sources- Women's Professional Soccer, Wikipedia, USA TODAY, The Latin Americanist, YouTube

Today’s Video: Marta maravilhoso!

On Monday, FIFA presented its awards for the top male and female soccer players of 2008. To nobody’s surprise, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo won top men’s honors by an ample margin over Argentine Lionel Messi and Spain’s Fernando Torres.

In the other non-surprise Brazilian star midfielder Marta won female Player of the Year for the third straight year. The 21-year-old was stellar in helping Brazil capture the silver medal in last year’s Summer Olympics as well as second place during the most recent Women’s World Cup.

In addition, Marta announced that she would bring her style of futebol to the States by joining the Los Angeles Sol for the Women's Professional Soccer’s inaugural season.

Below is a video clip of one of Marta’s best goals; an absolute golazo against the U.S. in the 2007 Women’s World Cup semis:

Sources- The Latin Americanist, Los Angeles Times, UPI, AHN, YouTube