UPDATED Wednesday recap: Marta signs with Tyresö

US Fans who hate her guts? But what measure do you think that? I saw people waiting for her autograph. The only time I give her any grief is when she is playing with Brazil against the USWNT.

Now if you mean I hate her guts because I don’t believe she is universally the best female soccer player to have ever lived. Then I guess you could say that. She is great, she is amazing, she clearly does things with the ball at her feet that few women have done. That isn’t all it takes to be the best women soccer to me. There are others in the conversation. I don’t hate her, I love to watch her play, and I haven’t seen others hating her either.

I dont care what you say,im calling it as i see it,she’s not liked here,but respected.

And nec99, in the annals of female soccer history who is better than Marta? Mia Hamm? Now dont get wrong ,i know as Americans we need to back our guy.Mia used to be my favorite until i saw marta play.

Now folks,we’re not talking about how a wonderful person the player is,or how humble and gracious the player is,we talking about what the player does on the field.Lets look at some stats,

Mia 154 goals in 275 international games,field goal percentage 56% . 2 TIMES BALLON D’OR winner.

@Rick – I might point out that Mia & Marta played in two different soccer eras. When the game started to open up and opportunities expanded, Mia was already at the end of her career. Marta will no doubt exceed Mia’s stats, but for her time, Mia was THE best.

And Michelle Akers should always been in these arguments…

105 goals in 153 games.. ALL when suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. Inspirational.

The problem I have is that I am accused of hating Marta simply because I don’t go into any discussion thread about any women’s soccer player, particularly Mia Hamm, and shout at everyone. If I don’t shout everyone down I must be a hater or a racist.

I like Marta, I wish WPS was here and she will still playing in it. I think the status of the league and level of it’s competition are increased if she plays here. I just don’t worship the ground she walks on.

This is a pointless argument. Yes, Marta is undoubtedly a more skilled player. She should be; each successive generation should be more skilled than their predecessors. That’s progress.

Someone said to look at the player on the field and not off the field. Newsflash: the things that made people love Mia off the field is why she was successful on the pitch. It made her a good teammate and helped her to make her team better. She humbly credits her teammates for doing the same thing to make her a better player.

Soccer is a team sport and Marta is an individual.

Marta is awsome. When the Flash came down to south Florida to play the Magicjack, we went so we could see Marta, Morgan, Wambach, Sinclair, Seger in the same game. Marta put on a show (2 goals in 2nd half) and the crowd was really into it. That said, from a business perspective, I don’t think Marta draws the crowds that warrants her salary. If WPS was playing in 2012, I think Morgan is now more of a draw in the US than Marta. And in 10 years, maybe we’ll be comparing the careers of Marta and Morgan…

Michelle Akers was great,but i’d pick Abby over her anytime.

I ask that question with all seriousness. There is always back and forth in comments but never a serious discussion. All I ever see are flowery adjectives.

Ahh, it is sad that the people who truly could have a good discussion about this topic will never join in and have a real discussion.

Rick – so you mentioned exactly what I said, great ability on the ball, and that is it.

You are wrong about the playmaker comment, 144 assists shows that.

It all goes down to the gut feeling some people have when they say wow! look what Marta did. She is dazzling, and she has something there that Mia didn’t. But that is all anyone ever says. Make a list and be honest with it.

That wasn’t a list. That was the same thing, dribbling. Nobody debated Marta out dribbling Mia. We are talking about all skill sets, not just one. The multidimensional part that you mentioned. This is the usual waste of time. I am done.

In the annals of soccer history, DRIBBLING separates the IMMORTALS from the from the MORTALS,so dont make it sound like its nothing.
If Abby had some above average dribbling skills she would be more deadly,be better than Mia.so u see dribbling is a crucial skill.
What do u think made Maradona arguably the best ever?(some people think its Pele).His dribbling. And dribbling is not just 1 skill but a plethora of skills put together.In the big leagues players with dribbling skills on top of other skills get the most money,eg,messi,ronaldo,ronaldhino,zidane,they were also the world best at one time

Marta did not (yet) really have a chance to work, build up a team pattern of play WITHIN and along with
a great team for a longer, sufficient time.
The brilliant gold pride was where she got the nearest. And Umea was not more than an short range competitor itself. Cause the brazilian nat´l isn´t exactly a collective team, never was and even if and when shines is just like a comet tail. [and south american team competitions don´t count] The opposite of this is for inst messi within barcelona, yu know. perhaps she will one day do it while not needing to lift hers teams up on her shoulders.