On December 29 at Albert Einstein Hospital, Sao Paulo city, Brazil, “soccer king” Pelé passed away from colon cancer, kidney and heart failure, at the age of 82. This is a shock to football fans in particular and the whole world in general. During his illustrious career, Pelé had countless glorious moments that surprised the whole world, let’s review those moments with VJShop.
Who is Pele? His illustrious career
For those of you who don’t know, Pelé’s full name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, he was born on October 23, 1940 in the city of Tres Coracoes, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Pelé grew up in poverty in Bauru in São Paulo state. He earned money by working in tea shops as a waiter. His father taught him to play soccer, but he did not have a proper soccer ball and often played with a bag stuffed with tightly tied newspapers.
Pelé’s football talent was revealed from a very young age. When he was 15 years old, he played for Santos, a famous football club in the country of Samba. At the age of 16, he was called up to the Brazilian football team and just one year later he won the World Cup with the team. This also helped him become the youngest player to own the most prestigious football title in the world. He won three FIFA World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and is the only player to date to do so.
Pelé is Brazil’s all-time leading scorer with 77 goals in 92 matches. At club level, he was Santos’ top scorer, and led the team to Copa Libertadores titles in 1962 and 1963. Pelé’s “explosive playing style and penchant for scoring spectacular goals” made him a star around the world.
Since retiring from football in 1977, Pelé has been a worldwide ambassador for football and has had many acting and commercial ventures. In 2010, he was appointed Honorary President of the New York Cosmos.
Neymar pays tribute to Pele at the 2022 World Cup
And on December 29 at Albert Einstein Hospital, Sao Paulo city, Brazil, “soccer king” Pelé passed away from colon cancer, kidney and heart failure, at the age of 82. Immediately after his death, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro declared three days of national mourning, and the city of Santos, where Pelé spent his entire playing career, also mourned the King of Football for seven days.
Pelé’s burial took place on Tuesday, January 3 at the Ecumenical Necropolis cemetery, Santos city, with only Pelé’s family members present.
Glorious moments in Pelé’s career
The late coach De Brito discovered Pelé from street tournaments and in 1956 he brought Pelé to the Santos football club at the age of 15 and declared that “This boy will be the best player in the world” .
Pelé in the colors of his hometown football club Santos
At the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. At the age of 17, Pelé made the world remember three records by his name: youngest player to participate in the World Cup, youngest player to score a hat-trick at the World Cup and youngest player to play in the final. He scored 6 goals at the 1958 World Cup, including one goal against Wales in the quarterfinals, three goals against France in the semi-finals and two goals against Sweden in the final.
Pelé went down in history when he won the World Cup at the age of 17
The goal against Sweden is one of the most beautiful goals in the history of finals: lifting the ball over the head of an opposing player, then volleying it into the far corner. After the match, Swedish player Sigvard Parling admitted: “When Pelé scored, to be honest I felt like clapping”. Pelé’s nickname “King of Soccer” was also born from the 1958 World Cup.
1958 World Cup, Pelé’s first World Cup at age 17
Pelé next to the Jules Rimet Cup, the predecessor of the current World Cup. He is the only player to win the award three times, in 1958, 1962 and 1970. Pelé also helped Brazil permanently win the Jules Rimet Cup as the first team to win it three times. Since 1974, the World Cup has used the current version of the FIFA Golden Cup, and eliminated the rule that three-time champions win the cup permanently.
Pelé and the Jules Rimet Cup
At the peak of his performance (1956-1974), the “King of Football” only played for the Santos club. Rich European clubs, such as Real Madrid, Juventus, Inter Milan or Man Utd, once wanted to buy, but failed. wall. In 1958, Santos had to cancel the agreement to sell Pelé to Italian club Inter Milan because fans protested. By 1961, the Brazilian government under President Janio Quadros declared “Pelé a national treasure” to prevent him from leaving the country.
An “upside down bicycle” goal from Pelé
In addition to his success with the Brazilian national team with 3 World Cup championships, he also contributed greatly to the Santos team with six Brazilian championships and two Copa Libertadores (the most prestigious club-level title in South America). ) and two Intercontinental Cups. It is worth mentioning that in two intercontinental championships against opponents from Europe, Pelé scored seven goals.
A dribble of the “King of Soccer”
Pelé’s influence at that time spread throughout the world even though he did not play in Europe. In 1969, when there was a civil war in Nigeria, both sides ceased fire for 48 hours to watch Pelé play a friendly match in Lagos. In this match, Pelé scored and Santos drew home team Lagos Stationary Stores FC 2-2. The ensuing civil war ended within a year.
Pelé is not only a player but also a symbol of football
And in 1975, a week before the Lebanese civil war, Pelé also played a friendly match here in the colors of the Lebanese club. On that day, an estimated 40,000 spectators were present at the stadium from morning. soon to follow. In this match, he scored two.
Pelé’s scoring record in World Cup history is 12 goals in 14 matches. In terms of records, he is still behind “juniors” such as Miroslav Klose (16 goals), Ronaldo Nazario (15 goals), Gerd Muller (14 goals), Just Fontaine and Messi (13 goals). However, his number of goals was also affected by injuries when in the 1962 and 1966 World Cups he only played in four matches.
Pelé celebrates scoring against his opponent
Especially in the loss to the Portuguese team in the group stage of the World Cup in 1966, he entered the field while still injured. The fact that Portuguese defender Jose Morais fouled Pelé without being sent off is considered one of the worst decisions in World Cup history. Pelé had to limp on the field for the remainder of the match, because substitutions were not allowed at that time. After the match, Pelé vowed never to play at the World Cup again, but he later returned to wearing the yellow and green shirt for the final dance at the 1970 World Cup.
World Cup 1970, the last World Cup of “King of Soccer” Pelé
The 1970 World Cup was Pelé’s last major tournament. In six appearances on the field, he shined with 4 goals and 5 assists. In the final 4-1 win over Italy, he contributed the opening goal and two passes to set up goals for Jairzinho and Carlos Alberto. Carlos Alberto’s winning goal is considered the best goal of all time for the Brazilian team. Burgnich, who was assigned to accompany Pelé in the final, admitted: “I told myself before the match that Pelé was just skin and bones like everyone else, but I was wrong.”
Image of Pelé celebrating the 1970 World Cup championship with fans
Bobby Moore, the midfielder and captain of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup, called Pelé a “giant on the field even though he was only 1.75 m tall”. Bobby Charlton, former striker for Man Utd and the 1966 World Cup-winning England team, admitted: “Sometimes I feel as if football was invented for this magical player”.
Pelé swapped shirts with Moore (captain of the England team that won the 1996 World Cup)
Almost all the legends of that time admitted that Pelé was on a completely different level than them. Dutch star who won the Ballon d’Or three times, Johan Cruyff said: “Pelé is the only football player who surpasses the boundaries of logic”. Franz Beckenbauer, West Germany’s 1974 World Cup winning captain: “Pelé is the greatest player of all time. He reigned for 20 years. No one can compare with him”.
Meanwhile, the late legend of Real Madrid and Hungary, Ferenc Puskas, refused to put Pelé on the list of the greatest players in football history because “he was above that level”. Just Fontaine, the 1958 World Cup top scorer with 13 goals and the player with the most goals at a World Cup final, admitted that he “should hang up his shoes when he watches Pelé play”. Former Man Utd defender Paddy Crerand answered when asked how to spell Pelé: “It’s easy: GOD (God)”.
Pelé left Santos to go to America to play for the New York Cosmos club in 1975
In 1975, Pelé left Santos to go to America to play for the New York Cosmos and in his final season helped the team win the championship. This transfer is a stepping stone for players in their “twilight years” to move to free land to play. We can mention names such as: Giorgio Chinaglia, Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, Johan Cruyff, Eusebio, Bobby Moore, George Best, or Gordon Banks.
On October 1, 1977, Pelé retired during a friendly match between Cosmos and Santos. The match was broadcast in the US and many places around the world. In this match, Cosmos won 2-1 and Pelé scored the last goal of his career with a free kick from 25 meters.
The video shows the head-to-head ability between the two legends Maradona (Argentina) and Pelé (Brazil). Perhaps now they have met and had performances in heaven with other legends.
