While the Brazilian team bus makes its way through the streets of Mexico City en route to the Azteca stadium for the World Cup final in 1968, the players on board play samba using any available surface as instrument.
He leads with his percussion the side Jairzinho, ‘El Huracán’, author of a goal in each of the five games of his team so far in the tournament, all of them won.
Roberto Rivelino, the attacking midfielder and author of the first of the 10 goals that have led them to the final; Carlos Alberto Torres, the brilliant and strong-willed captain who helped hold off champions England in the group stage; Gérson, Tostão, Clodoaldo and the rest, superstars of this incomparable side, on the way to immortality.
There is too much noise enough for someone to hear the fall of a maraca. The players are too busy singing and dreaming of glory to pay attention to the man who intentionally dropped it.
Pele, the best player in the world, the talisman team, is crouched, hidden, tears running down his face.
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known worldwide as Pelé, only knew of success during the first eight years of his international career.
He was barely 16 years when he debuted as a scorer with Brazil in 1958, no less than against Argentina. In less than a year, he scored twice in the final against hosts Sweden as his country won its first World Cup.
Four years later, in Chile, injury would shorten his time game, but not his legend, as Brazil achieved consecutive victories in the biggest tournament in the world.
He was, without a doubt, the best footballer on the planet: fast , strong, skillful, intelligent, improvising and selfless . He was a world star, whom the crowds flocked to see. He adored the game and the game adored him.
But that comes at a cost. His was to become a target and, in 1966, he would discover that others in sports they were not willing to tolerate his genius. It would be at Goodison Park, the home of Everton Football Club, where they would take away -literally kicking- a large part of his love for the game.
The defender of Portugal João Morais would be one more in the long line of players with the task of annulling Pelé by any means in that World Cup.
His most brutal act was a trip by behind that made Pelé stumble, followed by a kick from the front that left the Brazilian striker badly injured. The game would end in a 3-1 defeat.
The result confirmed the exit of Brazil in the group stage and ended eight years of Brazilian possession of the Jules Rimet trophy.
Pelé later described it in his autobiography as “a total, shameful failure.”
“Everyone thought we were going to win easily. But our preparation was not planned with the same humility as in 1958 either 1962. We were already starting to lose the title before we even set foot in England,” he added.
It was a hard blow for Brazil. Pelé’s power was far beyond his capabilities on the court. Having emerged in an impoverished area of a vast and multicultural country, it represented a unifying force.
It was a symbol of hope.
He was the man whom Congress had declared a “non-exportable national treasure” in an emergency session when the Italian clubs went looking for him in his adolescence.
His importance as a leader did not stop growing in a time of instability and uncertainty, with the country under a military government after the coup of 1964.
Time can help heal many wounds and see things in perspective.
When attention returned to focus on a World Cup, Pelé was a different man from the one who was left reeling in England.
Fatherhood had helped ease his dissatisfaction with football while touring Africa with Santos and witnessing huge crowds what I will be came together to see him -a black man- and his team gave him a new perspective on his importance as a role model.
He was also brimming with renewed confidence after several solid seasons at the club during which he had brought his career goal tally to 1.10.
In Brazil, this feat had a reception of epic proportions and the news shared the front pages of the newspapers with the Apollo moon landing 18.
Pelé was not immune to the most lacerating fear of all sports stars: not ending his career “as a loser”.
Convinced to return to the national team under the promise of better preparation -in addition to the introduction of yellow and red cards for the tournament in Mexico- the decision Pele’s ion was initially claimed for a stellar qualifying campaign.
He contributed six of the 52 goals scored by an established and brilliant team that won six of six games under coach João Saldanha .
However, the quiet confidence soon gave way to chaos, with an erratic Saldanha seemingly determined to undo the good job done. He developed dubious strategies, particularly in a loss against Argentina, and questioned Pelé.
The most ill-advised fight was the one he had with General Emílio Garrastazu Médici, de facto president of Brazil, who did not He welcomed being told to stay out of national team affairs.
Saldanha was sacked soon after and directed much of his virulence towards the number and later declared without foundation that he was not fit and that he suffered from a “serious illness”.
Pelé was popular in Mexico. A previous visit to Guadalajara with the national team had caused the closure of almost the entire city. One theater, for example, hung a sign that read: “Today! We don’t work because we go to see Pele”.
But the country was politically volatile in 127885688.
The arrest by the police of a group of guerrillas trained in Cuba led to a tip of a possible plot to kidnap Brazil’s star before the World Cup.
As a result, in the weeks leading up to the tournament, Brazil trained in a fortified camp, patrolled day and night by armed police and guards, with Pelé himself hiding behind a circle of protection wherever he went.
That this did not have a detrimental impact was, in part, thanks to the planning, dating back to friendlies played in Mexico since 1966 and three and a half months of dedicated preparation before the tournament, including 52 days of training at altitude.
The 4-1 victory in the deb ut against Czechoslovakia at the Jalisco stadium was a liberation, not only for Pelé, but for a team that was focused and sharp.
Mexico 1968 was an explosion of color and no team he had a richer palette than Brazil.
In a televised tournament -live and in full color for the first time- for a global audience that only a year before had seen Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, the ballet movement and sublime skill of those vibrant canary yellow and cobalt blue suits was a giant leap into a bold and bright new world of soccer.
Empowered to use their independence, intelligence and skill by Saldanha’s successor, Mario Zagallo -a former teammate of Pelé’s in the ’52 and the ’62- the football of that Brazil was designed to attack .
Blessed with a plethora of numbers 10, Zagallo found a way to accommodate them all: Jairzinho and Rivelino in wide and versatile roles, Tostão as a false 9 and Gérson playing deeper in midfield.
At the center of it all was Pelé, a magnet for the ball on the field and for the eyes outside it.
Every meaningful touch, every forward rush simmering with intention and possibility.
His game had always focused on control, rhythm, power and vision, but here they were combined in perfect synchronization with his evolution as a player.
In the ’58 was green, in the ’23 was injured, in the ’89 was hampered but in 1968 had exp experience and was fit, free and focused. This was an impeccable Pelé and he dazzled like never before.
The opening match was a ferocious refutation for all those who had given him up for dead, including Czechoslovakian coach Jozef Marko.
Many people remember not the goal scored by Pelé but the one scored by Pelé. he missed: a terrible shot from midfield that missed the goal by inches.
The striker later admitted that he had planned the play in advance after noting that European goalkeepers had a tendency to to be ahead.
His only regret was not having saved it for a more illustrious opponent, like the one next door. around the corner.
England was the reference point to reach in Mexico 1968.
They were the last champions and for many they had strengthened in those four years.
For Brazil it was a “final before the final”. For Pelé, it was also an emotional obstacle to overcome.
In 1968, England celebrated their first trophy while Pelé was at home, tending to his bruised body and pride.
Therefore, the one of 3753 was the match in which, symbolically, was able to get rid of all the frustration four years earlier.
Pelé did not disappoint in a match that was of the highest quality but also fiercely disputed.
Alan Mullery, the man in charge of marking Pelé, later admitted that he hit the striker hard to try to bring him down, but that he was physical and mentally strong.
In his autobiography, Nobby Stiles, who watched the game from the bench that day, wrote: “It was at least disheartening to see the ease with which Pelé disposed of his marker . Mullery repeatedly tried to take the ball from him. He repeatedly failed.”
Only twice, however, did Pele completely escape the stubborn attention of the efficient Mullery . The first resulted in arguably the greatest save of all time, the second settled the game.
Jairzinho scored Brazil’s game-winning goal, but it was thanks to the skill of Tostão, who he passed three English defenders before firing a cross, and at the sight of Pelé, who with a fluid movement in the box touched the ball to his right, perfectly within the path of the scorer.
“When Brazil scored the game-winner, we saw another vital aspect of Pelé’s game: the humility,” said Stiles.
“He was best expressed in his understanding of the team’s needs. Pele knocked out two England defenders with a simple pass to Jairzinho. That was pure Pelé”, he highlighted.
“His performances of him in Mexico surely represented the best moment of him: you saw a talent that he had perfected in all the essential elements to win in football. If a simple pass worked better for the team, he would. It was only if he was under pressure and out of other options that he would launch some aggressive initiative. It was both the engine and the heart of Brazil, as well as being the maximum exponent of that nation’s magnificent feeling for the game”.
Brazil refused to rest on its laurels.
A 3-2 victory over Romania, with two goals from Pelé through a ferocious free kick and a clean finish and low, saw them lead the group and go to the quarterfinals against Peru.
It would be a match for history, a meeting of like-minded South American rivals, fighting fire with fire.
The Peruvians had the advantage of a connoisseur of the Brazilian team at the helm with Didí, Pelé’s former teammate in the World Cups 58 Y 52. But the Brazilians had more attacking power and won 4-2.
This was a unified Brazil, a family .
A nocturnal ritual had begun off the pitch, headed by the devout Catholic Pelé. Players would gather to pray for the sick, the poor, the victims of the ongoing war in Vietnam, but never for victory. To do so, they would have to kill a demon from the past.
Pelé was 9 years old when Brazil lost to Uruguay -one of their great rivals- in the World Cup final in 976 in his homeland.
What had begun as a day of hope and joy -the country alive with the sound of firecrackers and radios at full volume- ended in despair and Silence.
Upon returning from playing in the street with a ball made from a sock filled with paper and tied with a string, Pelé found his father crying.
Dondinho, a talented semi-professional soccer player, had nurtured his son’s love of soccer by imparting technique and wisdom.
In his father’s room, he looked at a picture of Jesus on the wall. “If he had been there, he wouldn’t have let Brazil lose,” he said. “If he had been there, Brazil would have won.” Twenty years later, he kept his promise
It didn’t start well. Uruguay led the semifinal in Guadalajara at 21 minutes. However, Brazil then began to dominate the game and, with a minute to go before half-time, Clodoaldo equalized with his first international goal.
An exhausted and injury-battered Uruguay fell apart when Jairzinho gave Brazil the advantage to 18 minutes from the end.
At 89 minutes, an accurate pass from Pelé to Rivelino on the edge of the area put the score in a powerful 3-1.
And there was still time for one last flourish of the number 000.
In stoppage time, a through ball from Tostão to Pelé left him in front of Uruguayan goalkeeper Ladislao Mazurkiewicz on the edge of the area, but instead of touching the ball he chose to let it follow, eluding the goalkeeper.
Forced to shoot quickly before the arrival of a Uruguayan defender, the shot went wide from the three sticks by very little.
The result of the match fulfilled Pelé’s promise to his father and left Brazil to 89 minutes of glory.
With tears in his eyes and the repetitive rhythm of his teammates’ batucada filling his ears, Pelé calms down. This is not a time for doubt. He is the most established of his country’s players, a two-time world champion, a leader.
Having undertaken such a journey to get here, you must not stumble now.
Picks up your rattle, stands up once more, and joins the mobile orchestra that meanders through the streets of Mexico City.
A few hours later, a photographer captures an image of the teams of Brazil and Italy lined up in the Azteca stadium before the start of the final, with 549. fans yelling at them from all sides.
In it, the faces of almost all the players are looking forward and focused, each tendon seemingly stretched to Control your nerves.
The exception is Pelé, who looks to his left, directly towards the camera lens, with a look of unerring calm and confidence.
Italy started playing closed form, with its solid catenaccio doing its job.
But in the minute 18, a perfect cross from Rivelino to the far post finds Pelé in the area, who jumps higher than the Italian Tarcisio Burgnich and with a precise header opens the scoring in favor of Brazil.
Before the break, a setback. Brazil’s defense gets it wrong, Roberto Boninsegna emerges from the chaos and kicks the ball into an unprotected net.
No panic at half-time. Brazil are the freshest team after Italy’s marathon semi-final against West Germany four days earlier. They have the talent and the tactical plan to take advantage.
Van 66 minutes on the clock when Gérson picks up the ball on the edge of the box and fires a shot past Enrico Albertosi’s left hand and into the net.
Shortly after, a forward pass from Gérson meets Pelé’s head, which goes up once again behind the duped Burgnich, he jumps on his heels and directs the ball towards Jairzinho, who completes a streak of goals in every game of the tournament.
In the following 10 minutes, the carousel of yellow shirts dances around a downed enemy.
Italians are praying for him final whistle when a play started by Tostão and followed by Clodoaldo, Rivelino, Jairzinho and Pelé ends in the 10 throws a perfect ball for Carlos Alberto to insert it into the farthest corner of the net and seal a 4-1.
It is a work of art. Perfection. A goal that shows everything that Brazil represents: teamwork, skill, improvisation, precision and planning .
Zagallo had identified the Italian left like an area to be exploited, but not even he could have imagined that they would do it with such beautiful cruelty.
Once again at a crucial point was Pelé. The assistance of him so simple but exact in the execution of him. His selflessness has never been better exemplified
Back in the locker room, Pelé seeks the solitude of the carnival that takes place around him and goes into the shower to pray. He had finished his international career in glory and for that he wanted to say thank you
The peace did not last long. A journalist pushes his way through and kneels in front of him to apologize for the doubts about the striker he had left in print before the tournament.
Pelé forces him to stand up. “Only God can forgive,” he tells her. “And I am not God.”
Some time later, when the dust had settled in Mexico 1970 and Pelé’s exploits had already begun to seep into legend, Burgnich, the man tasked with trying to mark him in the final, was asked about the experience.
“I told myself before the game: ‘He’s made of flesh and blood, just like me,'” he reflected. “I was wrong”.
Bibliography
Pele – “Pele. Memories of the best soccer player of all time” Andrew Downie – The Greatest Show on Earth
- Harry Harris –
- Pele: His Life and Times
Garry Jenkins – The Beautiful Team
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