Football
OTD: Football’s greatest player Pele was born
In every generation of football, there is a player that rules the roost. There is rarely a player who can inspire players even after he retires from the game. Brazil’s Pele is one such player who has captivated the imagination of fans worldwide.
Edson Arantes Do Nascimento was born on 23rd October 1940 and changed the way football is to be played. Apart from Diego Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi none of the players past and present have had the success that Pele had.
Sadly the football lost the man called the Black Pearl late last year on the 29th of December. It brought an end to the life of one of the most decorated players with a career spanning over two decades.
A career retrospective of Pele –
Born to Dondinho a former footballer himself and Celeste, Pele was known for his trickery while playing with his friends. His father spotted his son’s natural talents and began to train the young Pele. Dondinho had another son named Zoca who was also a footballer but couldn’t hit the bright lights.
Pele joined his father’s old club Bauru in 1953 a year after Dondinho had retired from the game. Pele stayed with the club for three years before making a move to Santos at the age of 16. The Brazilian fans fell in love with the youngster ever since he made his club debut. Pele scored his debut goal in a 7-1 drubbing of Corinthians.
It took Santos two more years since Pele’s debut to win their domestic title as the 17-year-old played a key role in the triumph. During his time in his country’s club football circuit, Pele won an astonishing 25 titles.
Despite inviting interest from some of the biggest European Clubs, including Real Madrid and Manchester United, the Brazilian never left his homeland. After he retired from Brazilian Club Football, Pele played for the New York Cosmos for a few years. In total Pele played 647 games and scored 606 goals.
It is at the international level that the people admired Pele as he put Brazil on the map. Playing as a 17-year-old in the 1958 World Cup Final, Pele scored twice in Brazil’s 5-2 win over the hosts Sweden.
Brazil repeated this feat in 1962 with Pele yet again the key figure during the successful World Cup defence. Many expected Brazil to complete the hat-trick but England had won the title beating Germany in the field. Aged just 30 Pele played his final World Cup in 1970 and won the tournament for the third time.
Pele opened the scoring in the 4-1 win over Italy which helped the Brazilian team put their names in the history book again as they won the Jules Rimet Trophy. Pele retired from International football in 1971 with 77 goals from 92 games.