‘O Rei’ dies, cries the ball

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‘O Rei’ died. And the ball was left without a monarch forever. The ball cries sad and dejected because it has passed away Pele, the first global myth of soccer. A universal myth. Has died Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Three Hearts, Minas Gerais, October 23, 1940). He was 82 years old. He had been admitted since November 29 at the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in Sao Paulo, as the medical statement indicated, for “the performance of chemotherapy therapy for the colon tumor identified in September 2021.” He passed away after being hospitalized for almost a month.

The family of the Brazilian legend had met in the last hours next to his hospital bed before the advance of the tumor that heralded the tragic imminence of the outcome.

His son Edinho, who played goalkeeper in the 90s for Santos, published a photo on Instagram the day before Christmas that anticipated the event. In it he was seen holding the hand of the most important soccer player in Brazil. “Father… I give you all my strength.”

eternal figure

incarnated Pele the football of the last century without knowing that it was, in reality, the football of the century that followed. A football that no longer exists. A perfect football, which trampled paradise in Mexico-70, where he reached the World Cup and the three-time championship that elevated him to eternity with Brazil. He made his debut with the ‘seleçao’ in Sweden-1958 (he was 17 years old) and was champion, a title that he revalidated in Chile-1962, frustrated his idyll in England-66 before returning to sew himself the third champion’s star in the Mexican Azteca stadium in the world.

Club player (he was at Santos from 1956 to 1974) before exploring the American territory transformed, as he always was, into a pioneer with his innovative adventure in the Cosmos (1975-1977), epilogue to a dream career. Football cannot be understood without the infinite creativity of ‘O Rei’. Front, inside, midfielder, midfielder… Of everything was. And all in one, with a game that honored the ’10’ that remains forever in the collective memory of millions of fans. Those who saw him play and those who have heard marvels about his electric, imaginative, cunning, precise football and, above all, ahead of his time.

Innovative and pioneer

So advanced that even now, just beginning the second decade of the 21st century, no one dares to approach it. ‘O Rei’ only exists one. There was none before. Nor after. There is no one left from that pantheon of legends that has been losing, little by little, and under the inexorable law of time, all its members.

There is no one left from the pantheon of legends. First Di Stéfano left, then Cruyff, then Maradona and now ‘O Rei’

first passed away Alfredo Di StefanoArgentine and the closest thing that existed to Pele. It happened in July 2014. Later, Johan Cruyff died, the ideologue of the Dutch revolution who changed the view of this sport, even after the defeat. He did not need JC to win to transcend and sneak into the collective memory because he altered all the structures. The transgressor passed away in March 2016. Later, Diego Armando Maradona, closest to Di Stefano. In other words, as close as possible to ‘O Rei’. Two years ago now. November 25, 2020.

Santos was the club of his life. He spent almost 20 years and only allowed himself the final excursion to the New York Cosmos as a commercial epilogue to an incomparable success story in Brazil.

Innovative it turned out because it did not undertake any European adventure. Santos was the club of his life since he stayed for almost two decades (1956-1974). He only left it to end his successful and unequaled career in the United States, opening new markets in the New York Cosmos (1975-1977), as advanced as he was always at his time.

That child that Waldemar de Brito brought to Santos with a phrase that was quite a prophecy. “This kid is going to be the best soccer player in the world.” He was going so fast that he burned all the previous statistics, making his debut with his club at just 15 years old and debuting shortly after with the Brazilian team in the old and now non-existent Maracana. And against Argentina.

He began as a substitute with Brazil. He appeared in the second half. She was 16 years, eight months and 17 days. That July 7, 1957, Pelé appeared in the eyes of his country. And of the world. From that moment on, he did not stop causing amazement, transformed over the years into the best player of the 20th century by FIFA, an award that was joined by the one given to him by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as “best athlete of the 20th century” culminating a long list of decorations including the consideration of Knight of Honor of the British Empire or citizen of the world by the UN.

the amazing boy

Because the history of ‘O Rei’ was built on the World Cups. There was never a player like him there. Not before. Not even now, capable of being praised even for “non-goals” as happened in 1970 when he left unforgettable plays, which are part of the collective memory of millions of fans without even needing the ball to kiss the net.

But Pelé’s story begins in 1958 when his reign began after his Brazil, as a child, was eliminated in the 1954 World Cup against Hungary in the quarterfinals, a prologue to the most glorious era for Brazilian soccer. .

There in Sweden that boy scored six goals in just four games. He was only 17 years old. And the best was yet to come, as he demonstrated in Chile-1962, winning the two-time championship, kissing the Jules Rimet Cup. The games could not yet be seen on television, which were recorded on tapes and could be viewed in Brazil the next day.

The oral tradition telling what Pelé was now had an audiovisual argument where they suffered with that muscular injury of the Santos talent in the second game of the tournament. There were no changes then and he had to end up hurt. He barely played two games, but the ‘seleçao’ overcame his absence and won the second consecutive title, something that no other country has yet achieved, beating Czechoslovakia in the final (3-1, goals from Amarildo, Zito and Vava).

Torture England-1966

Then came the failure of England-1966 where a disastrous previous preparation by Brazil merged with the persecution suffered by Pelé, already injured in the first game against Bulgaria, for which reason he could not be against Hungary later. He then returned against Portugal where he was the victim of an endless manhunt. There were no cards at that time and the violence was ungovernable.

Joao Pedro Morais, the rude and aggressive Portuguese defender, who delivered two kicks that took Pelé off the field. They kicked him out. And it is not an exaggeration. Not much less. He came out unable to put his foot down, swearing to himself that he would never return to a World Cup. “I don’t want to play anymore because I never have any luck,” he said then, dejected by two consecutive tournaments in which he suffered various injuries.

Promise that he eliminated four years later, also pushed by the political pressures that forced him to participate in his fourth World Cup. It was when he reached perfection in Mexico-70 where his football illuminated the Jalisco stadium (Guadalajara) and the Azteca stadium (Mexico City). Where, in reality, utopia became a footballer. The art of ‘O Rei’. Three World Cups summarized in a single player with the signing of 1,282 goals as proof that he was infinite.

“Pelé was already the best long before he was and he continues to be, even after having been. If Pelé had not been born a man, he would have been born a ball”

Armando Nogueira, Brazilian writer and journalist

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“Pelé was already the best long before he was and he continues to be, even after he was,” wrote Armando Nogueira, the best chronicler of Brazilian soccer, contemporary as he was of the endless and successful career of ‘O Rei’. The same one that he certified with a sentence what he was, was and will always be. “If Pele hadn’t been born a man, he would have been born a ball.”

With his death, not only Brazil mourns. Soccer cries because it has lost its monarch forever.

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