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Brazil, Soccer, Brazil: Pele and the 1958 World Cup in Sweden (II)
Brazil, Soccer, Brazil: Pele and the 1958 World Cup in Sweden (I)
Brazil, Soccer, Brazil: Pele and the 1950 World Cup
Brazil, Football, Brazil: Pele, Origin
It takes luck to play soccer, and Pele, who was in dire need of making a name for himself at Santos FC, got lucky, although his luck was actually the bad luck of his teammate Vasconcelos. It was an important game for Santos at home against São Paulo. Santos started poorly, losing 1-3 in the second half, when Vasconcelos and São Paulo's Mauro Ramos de Oliveira collided on the field, which unfortunately broke Vasconcelos' leg! Pele remembered his father and Waldemar telling him how fickle the sport of soccer was, and Pele knew that he should save part of his salary and send money back to his family in Baru, so that Pele's family could buy a house instead of renting one. Money is important in a soccer career, and Pele's reasoning was practical, because when Vasconcelos returned from his injury, he was not the same man he was before he was injured, and Pele watched as Vasconcelos' career changed and he became the same man.
transfer to another club (professional sports)
to other clubs, not to mention that even if not
transfer to another club (professional sports)
, and his original position would have been filled at any time (by none other than Pele, who took advantage of the opportunity) and firmly occupied ......
Having played some regular matches and scored a few goals in the first half of 1957, Pele was popular with the Santos club, but only on a regional scale, and not many people in Brazil had heard of Pele at that time. But it wasn't long before an invitational tournament was held in Rio de Janeiro in June of that year, pitting four European clubs against four Brazilian teams, one of which was made up of players from Santos and Rio's Vasco da Gama, with Pele selected as a center forward. It was Pele's first opportunity to play at the famous Maracana stadium, built for the 1950 World Cup and at the time the largest soccer stadium in the world. Playing at the Maracana was like a dream for Pele, the Maracana was so huge that it made Santos' home stadium look like a miniature model of a soccer stadium by comparison... ...Although Pele spent his professional soccer career in Brazil at Santos, the Maracana will always have a place in his heart, and he will never forget his defeat in the 1950 World Cup Championship, nor his time representing Brazil at the Maracana, but that was later, and now he has to deal with his Maracana debut... Playing as a United striker against Portuguese club Belenenses!
The Maracana proved to be a lucky place for Pele, who not only got his chance to play here, but also scored a hat-trick! Pele took his training very seriously, and was a perfectionist in this respect, making a point of strengthening his left foot (which is much weaker than his right one), and practicing his headbutt skills, and even taking up karate and judo. He even took karate and judo lessons for this purpose, both of which taught Pele how to jump and land, and increased his balance and agility. This experience proved to be very useful in his soccer career, as he rarely fell when dribbling past people, and when he did, he didn't suffer any serious injuries... ...
1958 was the year of the World Cup, which added to the excitement of Brazil's domestic club competitions, where players knew (and expected) to put in a good performance to get the
the national team
favor of the coaching staff. Amazingly, at the time, Brazil
the national team
Head coach Vicente Feola picked Pele at the age of 17, but as mentioned before, soccer is fickle, and Pele then hurt his knee in a warm-up game, and instantly fell from heaven to hell. Pele remembered his father, who had been a good soccer player, and who had left the game after hurting his knee in his first big match. Is this his destiny too? As the assistant coaches helped Pele back to the lounge, the 17-year-old burst into tears. Will he be able to go to Sweden for the World Cup or not?
the national team
Is the search for his replacement already underway? After all, keeping Pele in Brazil is the easiest and most logical decision, no matter how you think about it.
The team doctor diagnosed Pele as being out of action for a month, meaning that he would not be able to play in any of the warm-up matches in Europe, nor in the first two matches of the World Cup. The coaching staff discussed this at length and decided that it was worth the risk, and the Brazilian team decided to send Pele with the team. And as we all know, this decision was both a great luck and a magical beginning for Pele and for Brazil!
