Edson Arantes do Nascimento used to say that his nickname, Pelé, meant nothing: “It’s just a word,” he explained. But for decades and decades, in the pre-Messi, pre-CR7 world, that word meant everything to football lovers: ask my boy and he’ll tell you that the best player of all time is Messi; Ask me and I’ll answer Maradona or Zidane or Deco, but if you asked my father he wouldn’t have the slightest doubt: neither Di Stéfano nor Crujiff, only Pelé.
What is normal: my father was born in 1924, he was 34 years old when Pelé guided Brazil to victory in the 1958 World Cup and saw his rise as the greatest scoring machine the world has ever known: when he hung up his boots, Pelé had 1,281 goals in 1,363 games, including friendlies; he won three world championships, six Brazilian championships, two intercontinental cups, and countless other minor or regional trophies.
For anyone born in the 1950s, Pelé isn’t just a word, it’s all of football.. Edson Arantes do Nascimento passed away this Thursday, at the age of 82; soccer does not die with him, because in the meantime soccer has become ubiquitous, as big as the planet, and for that Pelé contributed a lot.
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Source: Observadora
