As night falls and the clock points to the dawn of December 30th, an eternal soccer legend, King Pele, passed away at the age of 82 due to multi-organ failure caused by colon cancer. In his brilliant career, spanning 21 springs and autumns, participating in 1,366 matches, scoring 1,283 goals, his name and the Brazilian national team's World Cup defense, three World Cup winners of the brilliant achievements are closely linked to these achievements as the stars, hanging high in the long river of soccer history, difficult to be surpassed.
Dating back to the 1970s, King Pele has formed an unbreakable bond with Chinese soccer, and this friendship has a long history just like the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers.
In 1977, the New York Cosmos orchestrated Pele's farewell season tour of Asia. After a tour of Japan, the legend and his team arrived in China and traveled to many places of interest. During this time, Pele and his teammates played friendly matches against the Chinese men's soccer team, as well as an intense match against Shanghai at the Jiangwan Stadium.
Pele was so impressed with Chinese player Yung Zhixing that he praised, "He is a world-class player." At the end of the match, he also exchanged jerseys with Rong Zhixing, a scene that became an eternal classic.
Time flies. In 1991, FIFA President Avilanchier and Pele once again set foot on Chinese soil to help Guangzhou host the first Women's World Cup. The event brought together 12 teams from all over the world, including Denmark, Norway, the United States and Brazil, and sowed the passion of soccer in the four cities of Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Foshan and Jiangmen.
In the group stage, the Chinese women's soccer team was placed in Group A with Norway, Denmark and New Zealand. They got the tournament off to a good start by beating Norway 4-0. Despite falling behind twice in the following matches, they eventually drew 2-2 with Denmark and beat New Zealand 4-1 to advance to the semifinals with two wins and a draw.
However, in the semi-final, the Chinese women's soccer team lost 0-1 to Sweden and finally finished fifth in the World Cup. Nonetheless, their performance left a colorful mark in the annals of Chinese soccer.
In the 21st century, Pele visited China several times in 2002, 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2015 to participate in various social activities. In March 2002, he demonstrated his skill with a cuju at the foot of the Badaling Great Wall.
In three years, two legends of world soccer, Maradona and Pele, passed away one after the other, which is deplorable.
May there be no pain in heaven and may their legend live on forever.
