Marta v Prinz continues

June 15, 2008

Brilliant goalscorer for Brasil, FIFA 2007 World Player of the Year, and forward for Swedish club Umea Marta will face the German Birgit Prinz, 2007 Women’s World Cup champion and head of the current European champions Frankfurt for a third time this season in Beijing.

Marta and Brazil lost to Prinz and the Germans in the FIFA Women’s world Cup 2007 held in China eight months ago and recently has just come up short of the European Cup prize, yet again against Prinz and the Frankfort squad. The European final, which showed the high level of women’s football in the club level, surely fed the fire of this already fascinating rivalry between Marta and Prinz.

The first leg in Sweden ended up in a 1-1 draw, with Umea fighting hard, inspired especially by Marta. A free kick by Marta in the last minute of the match from 35 yards out agonizingly hit the crossbar, and so the second leg in Germany ended 3-2, with Prinz’s Frankfort winning 4-3 on aggregate.

The third installment of the Prinz versus Marta head-to-head will continue, of course, in Group F of the Beijing Olympic Women’s Football Tournament, where on opening day, August 6, Brasil is set to play Germany in Shenyang. Marta, perhaps especially now, should be looking for revenge against her German rivals.

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