A head-butt, penalty kick and Marta magic: How Brazil topped Colombia for 9th Copa América title

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2 days ago

Brazil's ninth Copa América Femenina title couldn't possibly have been scripted better.
Even if the 2025 championship faceoff with Colombia, which ended 4-4 in regulation and 5-4 in penalties, had been dreamed up in a writers' room, the draft would have been sent back to the drawing board for its indulgent lack of believability.
It was, by significant distance, the most thrilling of the three continental tournament finals that took place in the last two months: eight total goals, which included a headbutt and subsequent penalty kick, an own goal and a last-gasp Marta banger sent the game into extra time.
The 39-year-old legend scored a second goal in the first of the two 15-minute periods to bring Brazil closer to victory at 4-3, but that, too, was answered with a sublime free kick by Colombian midfielder Leicy Santos to level it again.
The penalties offered an entirely new framework for drama as each side's keeper saved the spot kicks of two of the goal scorers during the match, Santos and Marta. It took seven rounds of penalties to decide Brazil's fate, with goalkeeper Lorena's save closing the curtain on the most thrilling match in the tournament's history.
After a campaign that saw scant crowds in the stands across Ecuador, the cinematic final drew the biggest attendance of the tournament by far with 23,798 tickets sold, though a tournament spokesperson added the total attendance was likely closer to 24,000 with the distribution of complimentary tickets.
Spectators leaned heavily in favor of Colombia, and their heartbreak, it must be said, was earned: Colombia led on three separate occasions throughout the crunching matchup, with stunning goals by star strikers Linda Caicedo and Mayra Ramírez, who put on two of the strongest performances of the game. Their efforts sandwiched a perplexing own goal by Brazilian defender Tarciane, setting the stage for Marta's thrilling equalizer in the last second of stoppage time.
Caicedo and Ramirez's brilliance
Colombia's relentless pressure in their attacking third paid off when 20-year-old Linda Caicedo opened the scoring in the 25th minute, setting the chaotic tone. Up until this moment, Brazil had managed to contain Caicedo and 26-year-old Mayra Ramirez, consistently beating them to the ball and keeping them from making any meaningful connections. The lethal pair managed to break through twice when Colombia needed it most.
Caicedo, a dangerous threat due to her tactical prowess and critical awareness on the pitch, is capable of dribbling through a sea of defenders, but, for Colombia's first goal, all she needed was patience and some Ramirez magic. Ramirez managed to find the loose ball in a crowded box, pulling Brazil's defenders towards her. Her strength was on full display.
Now dangerously alone, Caicedo waited. All Ramirez needed to do was tap the ball to Caicedo, who calmly placed the ball in Brazil's net.
The pair connected again in the 88th minute; this time, it was Ramirez who was alone in front of the goal. A backheel from Ramirez to Caicedo ignited the play, with Caicedo then carrying the ball confidently back towards Brazil's defensive end once again. Caicedo only needed a quick tap to Ramirez, who shot the ball across the net and past Lorena, Brazil's goalkeeper. Chaos erupted as Colombia went up 3-2.
The Chelsea forward in this moment only looked for Caicedo, who she quickly embraced. This deadly pairing carried Colombia through this historic match and will carry this national team through its inevitable bright future. Though Colombia did not win the Copa América title it so bravely fought for, Las Cafeteras gave Brazil, long considered the best team in South American women's football, a challenge that no one on the continent will soon forget.
Physicality rankled the flow of the game
Even in the friendliest of circumstances, a meeting between Brazil and Colombia is guaranteed to be gritty and personal. As proud South American teams, each is known to bear their fangs when provoked, but against each other, those fangs were part of their starting XIs.
In this way, the opening minutes of the first half were standard procedure, full of hefty shoulder-to-shoulder 'greetings' and sneaky moments of psychological warfare outside the center official Dione Rissios' watch. But when Colombia assumed the front foot early on and scored in the 25th minute, Brazil found themselves in a deeply unfamiliar position: trailing for the first time not only in their 2025 Copa América Femenina campaign, but since 2014 in this tournament.
From that moment, the mutual physicality in the game curdled into something more pointed with animosity. Between the 32nd and 40th minutes, two Colombian players (Lorena Bedoya Durango and Carolina Arias) and one Brazilian (Tarciane) earned yellow cards, prompting Brazilian manager Artur Elias to institute a rare, three-way, first-half substitution, ostensibly to calm the game down.
During the third minute of first-half stoppage time, Colombian goalkeeper Tapia was also shown a yellow, all of which felt like foreshadowing for defender Jorelyn Carabalí, who headbutted Brazilian forward Gio Garbelini inside the penalty box. After a lengthy VAR check, Carabalí was shown a merciful and surprising yellow, and Brazil earned a penalty kick.
Angelina went top bins with confident ease to draw the eight-time Copa champions level just before halftime.
Marta magic
It did not matter that Marta entered this championship game in the 82nd minute. The 39-year-old striker was the ammo that Brazil kept in its back pocket, knowing she'd deliver when the team needed her the most — and that's exactly what she did.
The tournament appeared to be over, with Colombia on its way to winning its first Copa América. Then Marta, somehow, in the 96th minute, in the final possible second of stoppage time, scored what will go down as one of the most iconic goals of her storied career.
She found a loose ball outside the goalie's box and drilled it past Colombia's goalkeeper in a stunning display of Marta magic. The forward was quickly dogpiled on by her teammates, as the stadium erupted. She later scored again in the 105th minute, somehow finding a touch on the ball after it missed her head.
This gave Brazil its first lead of the game.
It did not matter that Marta would go on to miss a penalty. She came back from retirement to be on this stage because she knows she still has so much left to give Brazil and the beautiful game.
There's no denying how much this still means for Marta, who was in tears after the final whistle. Brazil just won its ninth Copa América title, and one of the first things she did was console Colombian players on this pitch. A moment of pure class by one of the greatest players of all time, and a moment no one on this pitch will likely forget.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Brazil, Colombia, Women's Soccer
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