IF YOU ASK Catarina, it’s all in the beans.
When Estevao joined his first futebol team at age 6 in Sao Luis, 4-year-old Catarina tagged along.
“When she saw him playing, she told me she wanted to play too,” Jose Macario wrote in an e-mail. “I told her she couldn’t. But she insisted. So, I made a deal with her. If she ate beans -- she hated beans -- I would put her in soccer school.
“She accepted the challenge and started eating beans. So, I had to keep my promise.”
On Catarina’s first day, the boys were surprised to see a girl dressed like them, in a soccer uniform.
“In 2004 in Brazil, nobody ever thought a girl would be playing soccer, especially with boys,” Jose said.
There is a long held belief in Brazil that the game is not for women and, in fact, it was illegal for women to play until 1979 … 1979! Due to a strong and continuing social stigma, Brazil only minimally supports women's soccer.
But Macario immediately proved she belonged. Not only that, but she already possessed skills that belied her age, even in comparison to the boys. And she could score goals. No one could finish like her.
Until Catarina moved to the U.S., she always played with and against boys.
“But also against their parents, since most of them would not accept that their sons were losing to a girl,” Jose said.
And, oh yeah ... “I never ate beans again,” she said.
“Whenever I think of Sao Luis, I always think about my family, my extended family,” Catarina said. “How we did a lot of things together. We’d go to the same church. Afterward, my dad would make this … what’s it called, cashew? Like, a cashew juice.
“He’d make that juice after church, and after that we’d go to my uncle’s house. Every Sunday, we’d swim in the pool and do a little barbecue: All types of steak, picanha, pork sausage, chicken hearts -- I really like chicken hearts. Brazilian barbecue is the best there is.”
On Saturdays, the family gathered at the farm of Catarina’s uncle or at her grandmother’s. Wherever they went, the day usually involved playing or watching futebol.
“I’d play soccer on the beach, I’d play on the streets, I’d play wherever, honestly, with a multitude of different people, in different environments,” Catarina said.
Estevao remembers playing futsal, a five-a-side form of the game played on courts, during recess. He was in third grade and Catarina in first and they played alongside each other.
“Even then, her talent shone through,” wrote Estevao in an e-mail. “It’s how we made friends with people from our class.”
“Everyone would sprint to the courts, trying to get there first and get a spot,” Catarina said.
The family moved south to Brasilia, a city of 3 million founded in 1960 as the new national capital, when Catarina was 7. Ana Maria began working as a general surgeon, psychiatrist, and proctologist.
The videos Jose shot of her was impressive. Catarina, her curly hair flowing, tracked a ball near the end line, reversed her field and sent a cross to a teammate in front of an open net. The goals, the tangled feet of defenders …
Her jerseys were too long and her shorts as well, but the talent was unmistakable. On her Santos team, the only girl was the one wearing No. 10. It’s the noblest of numbers, especially in Brazil, where the likes of Pele, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Zico and Neymar donned the iconic jersey.
“There definitely was some friction when she earned that jersey,” Estevao wrote. “But it was undeniable that she had indeed earned the right to wear it, because she was that good.”
As Catarina grew older, her talent forced some hard decisions. At age 12, girls in Brazil no longer were allowed to play on boys teams. That wouldn’t do with Macario’s skills, which far exceeded even those of the boys.
The acceptance and respect she earned in Brazil was compromised as her stature grew and jealousy took hold. After being featured on a television news report, Macario felt isolated and frozen out by her male teammates.
In both school and soccer there was potential that could not be met in Brazil for a family that valued higher education and felt soccer could be the means to reach it. America looked better and better.
