Mia Hamm vs Marta

Discussion in 'Women's Fans and More' started by puertorricane, Feb 6, 2012.

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Mia Hamm vs Marta

  1. marta

    2 vote(s)
    40.0%
  2. hamm

    3 vote(s)
    60.0%
  1. puertorricane

    puertorricane Red Card

    Feb 4, 2012
    Carolina PR
    Club:
    Santos FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Who is the better player of the two and why.
     
  2. taosjohn

    taosjohn Member+

    Dec 23, 2004
    taos,nm
    Marta-- Mia's almost 40 and out of shape a while. Marta's 26.
     
    Nacional Tijuana and Micol repped this.
  3. MRAD12

    MRAD12 Member+

    Jun 10, 2004
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Two great players from two different eras.

    It's like comparing Pele with Messi.

    They both had/have skills to take the man on. Both had/have the vision to score goals. And IMO both were team players who can set up their teammates as well as score goals.

    Would Mia have scored as many goals in today's era of faster, more skilled and more physical players?
    Mia Hamm used to run around the field with the ball like a squirrel in a nut factory.
    In today's game she would get whacked at midfield and made to start over.

    But definately in my opinion the two best players I have ever seen. Michelle Akers may be the best US player in some people's eyes but I like Mia better. She more was dynamic.

    Both Marta and Mia were/are not just soccer players there were/are stars.

    As to which one is better. I cannot say. They are equal in my eyes.
     
  4. Bonnie Lass

    Bonnie Lass Moderator
    Staff Member

    Lyon
    Norway
    Oct 20, 2000
    Up top
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Moving thread since neither Mia Hamm nor Marta are on the current USWNT.
     
    1 person likes this.
  5. StarCityFan

    StarCityFan BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 2, 2001
    Greenbelt, MD
    Club:
    Washington Freedom
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Since I didn't really get into soccer until this millennium, I never really saw Mia in her prime. But my overall impression is that if I want someone to score goals from the run of play, I'd take Marta. If I want an all-around soccer player who can score from free kicks, put her teammates in a position to score, and chip in on defense when necessary, I'd take Mia.
     
  6. M9fanatic

    M9fanatic Member

    Oct 31, 2000
    North Side.
    Mia in college was more dynamic and a more complete player.

    Mia in her prime was more dynamic and a more complete player.

    Mia in a club setting was more dynamic and a more complete player.

    Mia at the end of her career was more dynamic and a more complete player.

    Marta is an awesome goal scorer. Awesome on the ball. Fantastic in the box.
    But her play doesn't make her team better the way Mia did. Mia didn't have to score a goal to be dangerous. Her assist numbers are almost as high as her goal numbers because if she didn't score she made damn sure someone else did.

    Mia's set pieces are still the best I've ever seen in the woman's game.

    And because Bon moved the thread to this forum...

    ... Mia is a god and Marta is not.

    and Mia is prettier.

    and Mia is funnier.
     
  7. shlj

    shlj Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    London
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Mia doesn't train in the swimming pool so is a better player.
     
  8. MRAD12

    MRAD12 Member+

    Jun 10, 2004
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Marta does make her teammates better. Cristiane is half the player without Marta. Have you been watching the last 3 years of the WPS? Marta was on 2 WPS Championship teams, and one regular season Champion the first year with the SOL. The SOL may have won the 1st Championship if Kerri Seitz hadn't thrown out a player for an iffy call and the SOL had to play with a man short for most of the game. Did Mia win all 3 years of the WUSA?
    Just sayin.

    Also don't compare the team Marta has around her with the team Mia had around her. Mia didn't have to make Krisine Lilly, Michelle Akers or July Foudy, and all the other players on that USWNT much better. They were already there. The Brazilians aren't as deep in talent as the US was when Mia played. Marta often has to carry the Brazilian team on her back.

    I'm a big Mia fan and have watched many games live of her playing. I don't think there is anyone on the USWNT now that can match her star power now or any time soon. Not Abby, not Morgan, not Solo.

    Just like Michael Jordan was Michael Jordan, and there will be no other equal.
    Mia Hamm was Mia Hamm.

    Both Mia and Marta are the best women's soccer players of their time.
     
  9. StarCityFan

    StarCityFan BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 2, 2001
    Greenbelt, MD
    Club:
    Washington Freedom
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Mia played hurt in 2001, couldn't return until well into the 2002 season and even when she did couldn't go 90 minutes. She wasn't 100% until 2003, when the Freedom did win the championship. Even so, in the 21 games the Freedom played starting when Hamm returned, they went 14-2-5, a record that beats the Sol's dominant 2009 season by at least 3 points and pretty much matches FC Gold Pride's 2010 season.
     
    1 person likes this.
  10. M9fanatic

    M9fanatic Member

    Oct 31, 2000
    North Side.
    Oh heavens no. I would never blaspheme in such a manner. I wasn't comparing the team simply drawing comparison the individual contribution to their respective teams. Simply Mia did more for Team USA than Marta for Brazil. Although I did neglect to point out (but implied in the "dynamic and complete" part of my argument) that Mia was an awesome defender too.
    Though I can't blame Marta too much for lack of defense. I think Brazilian forwards/attacking mids in general come genetically encoded to break out into hives if they spend too much time in the defensive end.

    Yes. I have that on a t-shirt somewhere.
     
  11. M9fanatic

    M9fanatic Member

    Oct 31, 2000
    North Side.

    Indeed.

    7 minutes... on a bum knee and never looked back.
     
  12. JenM9

    JenM9 Member

    Oct 11, 2002
    MA
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Mia Hamm, any time she touched the ball it felt like magic could happen at any moment. She was not just a prolific goal scorer and play maker, but a workhorse on the field and absolutely everything you could hope for in a teammate and as an ambassador for the sport.

    My biggest problem with Marta is that she's just as likely to hold on to the ball, dribbling until she is doubled team and have the ball stripped from her than she is to do something special with it.

    I know it's all ready been said, but Mia had great vision on the field and could pick out her teammates and create chances for them in the run of play as well as on set pieces. Overall she was just a more dangerous player to have on the field and a more complete player.
     
  13. dna77054

    dna77054 Member+

    Jun 28, 2003
    houston
    One vary big variable is being forgotten in this discussion, the quality of the opponents. During Mia's time there was much less competition and our women were much more superior to our opponents than in today's game. Back then, in MANY games we could play without a goalie and still get an easy multi-goal win. Plus our physical advantages were relatively much greater back then. Getting a lot of assists is not that difficult when you typically have 80% possession and your teammates outrun their opponents on almost every through ball and win almost every header and every loose ball. Only one team in the world, Norway (who we could not "out physical"), was considered on even footing with us. The gap has closed a lot since then with many former second tier teams, eg. Sweden, Brazil, Japan, Germany really improving their games.

    In Mia's time we could waltz into the penalty box for a shot against most WC caliber teams, now we are resorting to mostly banging in crosses and hoping Abby gets on the end of one.

    Mia was great, but in today's game she would not be as dominant. Not saying Marta is better, but this is really apples and oranges. And of course Mia "works better with her team". The USWMT was essentially a club team playing/training year round in the Mia era. The Brazilian women may go 2 years without a practice session together.
     
  14. ZoroTheSlacker

    ZoroTheSlacker A Sophomore Dad

    Feb 12, 2012
    Mia.
    Marta has more skills (Technique/trapping). Marta would be a much better Futsal player I expect.

    I'll use a quote from another footballer as to why...
    "Technique/trapping is only a basic component of football...Anticipation, seeing the game develop in your eyes, weighing your possibilities, is the most important aspect of the game." Cruijff
     
  15. puertorricane

    puertorricane Red Card

    Feb 4, 2012
    Carolina PR
    Club:
    Santos FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    marta is twice the player mia was and probably will still get better since she is only 25
     
  16. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I agree with MRAD12, mostly, but I'm wondering why Sinclair isn't in the mix. As a total player, she's got it all.:)
     
  17. soccersonoma10

    Apr 26, 2007
    To put it simply, Mia Hamm was the greatest female soccer player of all time
     
  18. newsouth

    newsouth Member

    Nov 20, 2010
    Club:
    Santos FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    i just wanted to fix it a bit. getting 275 caps for other countries just don't come that easy. :)

    at marta's goal scoring rate, she'd have over 300 goals vs mia's 158 with that many caps.

    obviously, marta's role as a scorer is more important for brasil than dishing out asst to rosana and cristaine when they can't get in fitness and finish.
     
  19. soccersonoma10

    Apr 26, 2007
    haha, don't try and slight me. best national team ever yes. guess who was the best player on the team? mia is the best ever buddy there is no denying that
     
  20. ZoroTheSlacker

    ZoroTheSlacker A Sophomore Dad

    Feb 12, 2012
    Were there as many games in Mia's day?
    Is the only measure goals scored?
    I reminds me of the basketball Magic / Byrd comparisons, then Jordon. One made the team better, the others used the teams to make them.
     
  21. NoDefense

    NoDefense Member

    Jul 11, 2012
    Club:
    --other--
    As a Mia fan, imagine what Marta would have done to the competition Mia played against. Mia was an athlete playing against non-athletes. Marta is the best soccer player competing against soccer players.
     
  22. ZoroTheSlacker

    ZoroTheSlacker A Sophomore Dad

    Feb 12, 2012
    I see this too hard to compare. Like Jordon/Kobe vs Magic. IMO - a better athlete and one made the team better.
    I don't think Mia had the skills of Marta, but she sure could finish as well. And...soccer is a team sport and I think Mia made the team better - Marta - don't know.
     
  23. 8MaCookies

    8MaCookies Member

    Jan 3, 2012
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Marta does make her team better. Difference between the 2 teams, USNTs are well funded with plenty of camps and plenty of friendly that they can finger everything out. Brazil regardless of how good each player is individually, they aren't funded like we are; they aren't playing as many friendlies for the team to get assimilated. They are fingering things out on the fly.

    The team Mia played in at the time were better than their competation. Current day Brazil aren't miles ahead of the competation like US was during Mia era.
     
  24. 8MaCookies

    8MaCookies Member

    Jan 3, 2012
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Jordon/Kobe played different positions than Magic and their games were fundamentally different. Using those 3 for comparison are weak comparison. Magic was more of a distributer than pure scorer. Jordan/Kobe are more pure scorers. Jordans' game changed when he was with the wizards, he played small forward, posting up-scoring & posting up-dishing out. Kobe hasn't made his team better, he just take more of the play than other on his team.
     
  25. Batfink

    Batfink Member+

    May 23, 2010
    Attilan
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    You don't think Marta makes Brazil better, in the way Hamm made USA better o_O, even though without Marta's individualism, a poorly backed Brazil wouldn't have factored in any major tournament they took part in for the past decade :confused:.

    In a national program of amateur status and semi pro athletes, to constantly propel your team to such heights, while you dominate all around you in an age of increased global professionalism, is simply an amazing feat.

    So comparing Marta with Hamm, is not like comparing the footballing talents of Maradona to Pele. It's more like comparing Maradona to Charlton, or Maradona to Di Stefano. All great players, but clearly divided by the age of technicolor vs black and white, and the kinds of football both mediums displayed.

    Love her or hate her, Marta's brand of technicolor football has taken things to another level, in a way we just never saw in the black and white age of Hamm. This doesn't take anything away from Hamm's accomplishments, or the time she was performing at her prime, but were all still waiting to see another Marta, while various variations of Hamm already existed while she was still around.
     

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