- Title: SOCCER-BRAZIL/PELE BIRTHDAY Pele turns 75 on October 23
- Date: 22nd October 2015
- Summary: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES (FILE - DECEMBER 17, 1993) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** FIFA NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS THEN FIFA PRESIDENT JOAO HAVELANGE ANNOUNCING INTENTION TO BAR PELE FROM WORLD CUP DRAW
- Embargoed: 6th November 2015 12:00
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- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA6EUDW0P94YKG8R48KU68CAVK6
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- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, will be celebrating his 75th birthday on Friday (October 23).
From the 17-year-old sensation of the 1958 World Cup to the 29-year-old at the absolute peak of his powers when Brazil won the Jules Rimet Trophy for the third time in 1970, Pele embodied everything good about the world's most popular sport.
Playing and scoring in four successive World Cup tournaments, combining an extraordinary talent and exemplary sportsmanship on the pitch with a modest and polite attitude off it, he has earned the respect and admiration of team mates and opponents in similar measure.
Because of his grace, control and balance it is sometimes forgotten just how powerful a player he was. Virtually impossible to knock off the ball in possession, he was a fearsome sight in full flight.
Playing as an inside forward he was not only a master goalscorer but also a supreme creator whose positional awareness was at times uncanny.
Pele's stellar career was a far cry from his humble beginnings, kicking a ball of rolled-up rags and sometimes even a grapefruit as he honed his skills on the streets of his birthplace Tres Coracoes where he worked as a shoeshine boy.
His senior playing career began in 1956 when he joined Santos as a 15-year-old and became the club's top scorer in his first season with 32 goals.
He made his international debut in July 1957 at 16, scoring against Argentina, but burst to prominence in the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden when he scored a hat-trick in the semi-final against France and twice in the 5-2 final victory over Sweden.
The next two tournaments were a disappointment for Pele on a personal level. Injury in the group stages in 1962 meant he played little part in Brazil's success in Chile while in 1966 he came in for some fearsome attention from defenders as Brazil were kicked out of contention.
Disillusioned, he vowed never to play in another World Cup and instead concentrated his efforts on Santos, scoring his 1,000th senior goal while playing for them on a memorable night in 1969.
However, he changed his mind and, as history shows, sports fans all over the planet would be forever grateful.
The 1970 World Cup in Mexico, and more particularly Brazil's performance in it, is widely regarded as the zenith of "the beautiful game" and while that great team was packed with talent it was Pele running the show.
From his monumental battle with Bobby Moore, captain of defending champions England, in the group stage to his nonchalant roll of the ball into the path of Carlos Alberto to indelibly seal the 4-1 final victory over Italy, Pele was the master.
In between were his extraordinary shot from inside his own half which sailed just wide against Czechoslovakia -- not so rare now but unheard of then -- and his outrageous dummy in the semifinal against Uruguay when he ignored the ball to completely flummox goalkeeper Mazurkiewicz, though he could not quite recover in time to score.
Brazil, as the first team to win the World Cup three times, were given the trophy in perpetuity and with the tournament screened live and in colour the world over for the first time, Pele's position as the greatest player in the history of the game was carved in stone.
He played his last international, his 111th, in 1971 and three years later retired from the club game with an incredible 1,281 goals in 1,363 senior appearances. Santos retired his number 10 shirt.
In 1975 he came out of retirement to play an important role in the fledgling North American Soccer League with New York Cosmos, hanging up his boots for good in 1977.
Following retirement he has carried himself with dignity as the greatest ambassador the game could have.
He has always been highly aware of his position as a catalyst for change and has contributed incalculable work for the game in developing countries and helped humanitarian causes around the globe.
In 1993 there was widespread anger when FIFA president Joao Havelange barred Pele from the stage at the draw ceremony for the finals of USA'94 following a much publicised falling out between the two men.
In 1995 he was appointed as Brazil's "Extraordinary Minister for Sport".
During this time in office he proposed legislation to reduce corruption in Brazilian football, which became known as the "Pele Law". He resigned in 2001 after being accused of involvement in a bribery scandal.
In Pele's lifetime soccer has expanded to levels undreamed of when he began playing but his reputation has been merely enhanced further as new pretenders come and go.
A goal Pele scored in 1959 was regarded as the most brilliant goal of his career.
Pele, who was 18 years old at the time, is reputed to have flicked the ball over three opponents before scoring for Santos in their match against the local side Juventus.
In 2006, Juventus officials presented Pele with a statue of himself which will stand in front of the club's modest 7,000 capacity stadium in a Sao Paulo suburb.
Several thousand people turned up to watch the ceremony, producing chaotic scenes.
There are no film or television pictures of the goal, although a computer reproduction has been made from a re-enactment by the man himself. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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