The 2007 Women’s World Cup was supposed to be a crash course between the defending champions, Germany, and the USA, whom the Germans had embarrassed in the semifinals of the previous World Cup. No one, however, told that to a 21-year-old, who turned the women’s game on its head by leading Brazil to a 4-0 victory over the USA, and announcing her arrival as the best female soccer the world had ever seen.

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