Sao Paulo - Pele himself dubbed her "Pele in skirts," though as she prepares for the women's World Cup Brazilian star Marta is, unlike the national icon, still chasing a breakthrough team world crown.
It's the only gap in a sparkling resume built in a sport which has fascinated her since she first saw women's football on television as a 10-year-old.
Now 29, Marta is the face of the women's game in Brazil, despite spending much of her career in the United States and Sweden.
Marta started out playing barefoot at Dois Riachos in Brazil's arid notheast state of Alagoas.
She told her mother she would make the grade and has been as good as her word save for lifting a World Cup -- a final defeat in 2007 to Germany the closest she and her compatriots have come to date.
Shoals of titles at club level and Copa America and Pan American titles cannot mask the fact that the World Cup is still missing from her honour roll as Marta links up with her squadmates.
Marta Vieira Da Silva has been chasing her dreams all her life, starting off by trying to keep up with her brothers in their games.
Home life in Brazil's tough north east was difficult -- her parents split before she was a year old and her mother was left to fend for herself and four children.
Money was tight for everything, including school materials, never mind soccer boots, and Marta only started school from the age of nine.
Marta played in school leagues until the day when one coach refused to let his team compete unless she withdrew.
At that stage, a local scout brought her to Rio for try-outs with nascent women's outfits.
Aged 14 by that stage, Marta had never left her home state. Her mother only realised the youngster was serious when she saw her board the bus for Rio.
AFP
