The World Cup: Remembering Pele

Congratulations to Argentina and their best player, Lionel Mesi:

The victory, long sought by Mesi and Argentina, will be headline news in the wide world of sports for quite some time.

The glory that accompanies great competitive athletic achievement is sometimes fleeting and shortlived.

However, being the ‘first’ or the ‘only’ or the most prolific almost always ensures immortality in the annals of the thrills of victory and the agonies of defeat.

It is in this regard that, at this moment, I harken back to my youth and remember the time when the best of the best in world class soccer, or football if you prefer, was a black athlete who was incomparable as the reigning superstar of his sport.

It was this black man who was clearly superior and dominant in the game that caused me to take a turn at competitive soccer when I was in 7th and 8th grade:

“Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈɛtsõ(w) ɐˈɾɐ̃tʃiz du nɐsiˈmẽtu]; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (Portuguese pronunciation: [peˈlɛ]), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled “the greatest” by FIFA, he was among the most successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century. In 1999, he was named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee and was included in the Time list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. In 2000, Pelé was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) and was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century. His 1,279 goals in 1,363 games, which includes friendlies, is recognised as a Guinness World Record.”

——Wikipedia

Pele and his teams won the World Cup for Brazil 3 times: 1970, 1962, and 1958.

The current World Cup moment belongs to Argentina and their greatest player, Lionel Mesi.

However, for me, World Cup history still belongs to Pele, the greatest of all time…

UPDATE:

Pele passed away on Thursday, December 29, 2022.

The man who many consider to be the greatest soccer player of all time died at the age of 82…