This post is part of a larger list looking at some of the top individual performances in all of sports history. Check out the full list here.

When two-way great Shohei Ohtani turned his slugging slump into the greatest game in baseball history in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, it started a discussion in the Sports Illustrated newsroom: What are some of the other top individual performances in sports? And how do they compare to Ohtani’s 10 strikeouts and three home runs?

Here are our picks for the men’s and women’s soccer.

Men’s Soccer: Zinedine Zidane Eliminates Brazil in the 2006 World Cup

France’s World Cup quarterfinal against Brazil in 2006 was not yet 40 seconds old by the time Raymond Domenech realized something special was unfolding before his eyes.

France’s manager had just watched his captain Zinedine Zidane take his first touch of the game by planting the studded sole of his golden boots on the ball. Holding Zé Roberto off with one arm, Zidane pirouetted past Juninho before a flurry of stepovers sent him beyond a third bamboozled Brazilian.

That dazzling sequence set the tone for a one-man masterclass, a litany of flicks, drag-backs and deft prods of the ball, all while the aging talisman was carrying a thigh injury. Even more impressive was how he turned the defending World Cup champions—a team considered one of the most talented of all time, headline by superstars Ronaldinho, Ronaldo Nazário, Roberto Carlos and Kaká—into mere observers.

Then, Zidane’s free kick set up Thierry Henry for the only goal of a game that the Real Madrid icon was able to dominate with a sense of freedom. Gliding around knowing this was his last tournament before retirement, this was Zidane unshackled.

“I wanted to enjoy every second,” he said. Everyone not of a Brazilian persuasion also had a pretty good time.

Greater than Ohtani? Zidane certainly enjoyed the same sense of awe but couldn’t quite match the Dodgers star for that element of unique effectiveness. —Grey Whitebloom

Women’s Soccer: Marta Stuns the USWNT at the 2007 World Cup

They were meant to be unstoppable, but then there was Marta. 

The United States women’s national team was on a 51-match unbeaten streak when it walked out to face Brazil in the semifinal of the 2007 Women’s World Cup, where 47,818 people at Yellow Dragon Stadium, in Hangzhou, China, gazed out at the pitch assuming the favored Americans would advance. Instead, the fans were treated to a Brazilian forward, diminutive in frame, but not in gravitas, delivering a mesmerizing manifesto of skill and confidence. 

Marta after scoring vs. the U.S.
Marta recorded two goals and an assist in the 2007 Women’s World Cup semifinal to end the USWNT’s run of dominance. | Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated

What made Marta so malevolent that night was that she smelt blood. After the USWNT went behind via an own goal in the 20th minute, Marta seized her moment. She weaved through the white shirts effortlessly and shot low into the corner for her first goal. Next came the cerebral key pass on the halfway line, meticulously watching both the USWNT and the runners in yellow to time the perfect one-touch through ball for Formiga to assist Cristiane for another goal. 

One of the greatest individual performances in World Cup history was capped off with Marta’s greatest goal, her second of the night. The flicked touch around the defender to play herself into space in the box, the dropped shoulder and control to leave another U.S. player behind and this time her lesser-used right foot doing the damage to make it 4–0.

Two goals, an assist and the greatest powerhouse in women’s soccer tasting its biggest-ever tournament defeat. A woman possessed, a legacy made.

Greater than Ohtani? Of course, soccer to baseball isn't apples to apples. Marta's panache on her home runs more than matches Ohtani on his, but it's hard to compare a forward's might in the attack to the mastery of a pitcher at the mound for six playoff innings. —Theo Lloyd-Hughes

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Greatest Soccer Performances of All Time.

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