Rest in peace king! Pele, dead at 82 years old

[ASHOOR]

بدأت قصتي مع الاسطورة بيليه في سن السابعة من العمر! في العام١٩٨٧، اشترى لي ابي المرحوم سلسلة قصص كارتون للاطفال بعنوان"الجوهرة السوداء، ملك الملاعب"



واذ كنت ملهم بالقراءة من الطفولة، بدأت بقراءة هذه القصص بشغف كبير، بالرغم اني لم اكن اهتم بمتابعة كرة القدم انذاك!



وبعد ان انتهيت من هذه الكتب، عرفت عن تاريخ المنتخب البرازيلي بكون الاسطورة السوداء لعب له وهو اعظم لاعبيه بل في تاريخ العالم اجمع.



وفي العام ١٩٨٨، تابعت المنتخب البرازيلي في اولمبياد سيول و الوصول الى المباراة النهائية للميدالية الذهبية امام الاتحاد السوفياتي. وعندما خسرت البرازيل تلك المباراة ، كنت على وشك البكاء!



منذ ذلك الوقت والى يومنا هذا، بل الى الابد، وانا مشجع ومتابع مخلص للمنتخب البرازيلي وقد تابعت كل مباراة و بطولة لعبوا فيها، وهذايشمل جميع الفئات العمرية وليس المنتخب الاساسي فحسب.



الرحمه لك ولترقد روحك بسلام يا ملك الكرة​

 

[ASHOOR]

My journey with Pele began in 1987 when my late father gifted me a series of children's cartoon books depicting the life of Pele, titled "The Black Jewel, King of the Field." Despite not having a particular interest in soccer at that time, but being an avid reader from an early age, I delved into these books with great passion. Through them, I not only learned about Pele but also about the rich history of the Brazilian team, of which he was not just the greatest player but a worldwide icon.

In 1988, I vividly remember watching Brazil compete at the Seoul Summer Olympics, where they reached the gold medal final game against the Soviet Union. When Brazil lost that game, I was on the verge of tears.

Since then, thanks to Pele's influence, I have been a loyal and passionate fan of Brazil. I have eagerly followed their journey, watching hundreds of their games across every tournament, including matches featuring their younger teams. I have been fortunate enough to witness them lift two World Cups in my lifetime (1994, 2002), as well as various other titles such as the Copa America, Confederation Cups, Olympic Gold medals, and numerous youth championships.


Rest in peace king, the true GOAT!

 

[ASHOOR]

I know i am not the first to mention this, but isn’t it astonishing that in all 4 WCs Pele played in, he never truly lived up to the hype in any of them.

In 1958, he was a true revelation but no one knew about him

In 1962, he was supposed to be on top of the world, but we only got two games out of him.

1966, similar to 1962 but more mature and experienced.

In 1970, he was already past prime despite putting a display that even legends would dream of.

Which begs the question, barring injuries , what year was Pele supposed to be at his peak, 1962 or 1966?


ASHOOR

 

[Crocodile Bani]

Pele was something else. Whilst there were great players who came before him, he was the first that was unanimously regarded as a great. His career started out as television started becoming mainstream. He was popular not just due to his mesmerising skills, but also his humble nature.

One of my favourite Pele moments was when Brazil played England in the 1970 world cup. Before the tournament started, England captain Bobby Moore was involved in a shop lifting scandal which he denied anything to do with. The Mexican crowds were booing him and the England team throughout Mexico1970. When Brazil played England, the England captain Bobby Moore was marking Pele. Brazil won the match with Jairzinho's goal that came from a Pele pass. It was the only time Pele was able to do anything as Bobby Moore did an effective job of marking him aside from that one moment. After the match, it was Pele, who ran to Bobby Moore (not the other way around) to exchange jerseys with him and said that Moore was the toughest and yet cleanest defender he ever played against as Pele was so used to defenders trying to break his legs.

Which begs the question, barring injuries , what year was Pele supposed to be at his peak, 1962 or 1966?

In 1966, he was 25 years old. Usually a player reaches their peak at between 26-28. It was in 1962 and 1963 that Santos won the Copa Libertadores and the intercontinental cup against Benfica both years with Pele starring for Santos back then. Difficult question but if we go by age, I would say 1966 was when we should have seen the best of Pele if not for the Bulgarian and Portuguese butchers.

In 1970, he was already past prime despite putting a display that even legends would dream of.

I disagree he was past his prime. He was 29 and despite saying back in 1966 that he would never play at a world cup ever again, was enticed by his former team mate who then became the coach, Mario Zagallo. He was still a superstar and the best player that Brazil had. He played brilliantly in that world cup, scoring goals and setting them up and above all else, inspiring his team mates. 1970 was the perfect world cup for Pele to finish his world cup career, rather than the horrible 1966 World Cup.

Most amazing fact about his career was that he was never captain. Players like Maradona, Gullit and Platini were made captains at a fairly young age. I am presuming that Pele did not captain the 1970 team as he was almost a last minute addition to the team and would have been disrespectful to Carlos Alberto who had captained the team with distinction up till then. Mind you, aside from Socrates in 1982, I can't remember a Brazil team that had an attacking player as a captain. It may be cultural.

Totally irrelevant but did you know that Dida was the first black goalkeeper for Brazil at a world cup in 58 years when he played in 2006? Due to the way they lost in 1950, for many years, it was considered bad luck to have a black goalkeeper at a world cup.

Rest In Peace King Pele

 

[ASHOOR]

Amazing post and very interesting historical insights, some of which I didn’t know!

There is another question I have been interested in and would be interested to hear your opinion : what about 1974, where Pele would have been 33 years old or so. Would he have helped Brazil for the title, since you still had a lot of the stars from the last 1970 team. With such strong Dutch and German teams, and while his presence and expertise would help, don’t think it would be enough to help win the title as he was at the tail end of his career. So he would have chosen the perfect WC to end his career.

 

[ASHOOR]

Great article about Pele. The author makes a CL case that he had a good chance to win the WC in 1974

“Brazil lost to the Dutch in the semifinals of that World Cup. Still 33, and coming off a season that saw him finish as top scorer in the Brazilian league, it may well have been a different story for Brazil in 1974. He might have won a fourth World Cup and competed in his sixth, both of which would have been records. But he was no longer going to let himself be used as a symbol of something he despised.”

Pele was the benchmark against whom all other great players are measured

Pele meant something not just to fans, but also to folks who had never watched a football game, as well as to those who had but hated the sport.

www.espn.co.uk

 

[ASHOOR]

One of the most surprising facts about Pele is not so much that he never won the Copa America, but that he only played in 1 of them , out of possible 5. Even worse, between 1960 and 1975, seems like a various CA editions were never played, denying Pele the chance to play in more than just 1 CA.

In fact, the other day I heard Tim Vickery mention in a podcast that Santos didn’t want to release Pele for CA, since they could make more money from him playing him on club tours.


But what really sucks is that in Pele’s only CA participation and at age 18, he won top scorer with 8 goals in 6 matches, but Brazil fell short by 1 points to Argentina who won it in what was more of a league format back the.

 

[ASHOOR]

One of the most surprising facts about Pele is not so much that he never won the Copa America, but that he only played in 1 of them , out of possible 5. Even worse, between 1960 and 1975, seems like a various CA editions were never played, denying Pele the chance to play in more than just 1 CA.

In fact, the other day I heard Tim Vickery mention in a podcast that Santos didn’t want to release Pele for CA, since they could make more money from him playing him on club tours.


But what really sucks is that in Pele’s only CA participation and at age 18, he won top scorer with 8 goals in 6 matches, but Brazil fell short by 1 points to Argentina who won it in what was more of a league format back the.

Then you have those clueless FB and Twitter sports accounts that have become cheerleaders for Messi and like to tell us that Pele never won a CA.but they conveniently forget that Pele only played in 1, while Messi is literally second all time in terms of CA participations at tournaments.

 

[Crocodile Bani]

There is another question I have been interested in and would be interested to hear your opinion : what about 1974, where Pele would have been 33 years old or so. Would he have helped Brazil for the title, since you still had a lot of the stars from the last 1970 team. With such strong Dutch and German teams, and while his presence and expertise would help, don’t think it would be enough to help win the title as he was at the tail end of his career. So he would have chosen the perfect WC to end his career.

Simple answer is, we will never know. So many "what ifs" in world cup history. Would West Germany have won the 1982 final if an unfit Rumenigge had NOT played and come on as sub as he did in the semi final? Would Argentina won 1990 if Caniggia was not suspended for the final? Would Brazil have won 1998 if Romario was not injured? Would France won 2006 had Zidane not lost his cool? We will never know (and just for the record, I think all 4 examples would have lost anyway). Hard to tell regarding Pele in 1974. Firstly, I am not as old as you think () and there were other good teams in that tournament like West Germany, Holland and Poland. Plus Pele was almost forced to play in 1970. Finished as a winner, so I highly doubt that mentally, he would have been up for 1974. All the traveling he did with Santos would have taken a lot out of him by age 33.

One of the most surprising facts about Pele is not so much that he never won the Copa America, but that he only played in 1 of them , out of possible 5. Even worse, between 1960 and 1975, seems like a various CA editions were never played, denying Pele the chance to play in more than just 1 CA.

In fact, the other day I heard Tim Vickery mention in a podcast that Santos didn’t want to release Pele for CA, since they could make more money from him playing him on club tours.


But what really sucks is that in Pele’s only CA participation and at age 18, he won top scorer with 8 goals in 6 matches, but Brazil fell short by 1 points to Argentina who won it in what was more of a league format back the.

In all honesty, Brazilians don't care too much about the Copa America, hence their not so great record up until the Ronaldo era. Whilst trophies are a somewhat a reflection of a player, they aren't everything. Dani Alves has won more trophies than Pele, Maradona, Baggio, Platini and Cruyff put together, but he is he necessarily greater than them? When Messi finally won a Copa America, it was when they were playing them every year instead of every 4 years like they do in other continental championships. Whilst people were happy for Messi when he won that Copa America, including Brazilians who lost that final, it was also an empty feeling because he had so many attempts thanks to the ridiculous Conmebol wanting to have them once a year, diluting the prestige of the Copa America.

If anyone brings up Messi v Pele and uses the Copa America against Pele, just laugh at them because it is a ridiculous comparison.