World cup Legends

WORLD CUP LEGENDS
But Pelé and Brazil were not to be denied.
They kept coming, and in the 59th minute,
broke England’s resolve. Tostão danced into
the edge of the England box and lifted the ball
into the middle. Pelé killed it dead with a deft
touch, then shifted it outside into the path of
Jairzinho to power home into the top corner.
Brazil’s inal group game was against
Romania. They rested a couple of stars,
shifting Gerson and Rivelino to the bench,
but Pelé remained, and would again have a
key role to play. He opened the scoring after
19 minutes with an inswinging free kick, and
added another in the 67th minute in a 3-2
victory that took Brazil into the quarter-inals.
Brazil ploughed through their opposition
in the knockout stages. First to fall were Peru,
Pelé assisting a goal for Tostão in a 4-2 win.
Pelé created another in Brazil’s next match,
a semi-inal against Uruguay that they won
3-1, and where one of Pelé’s most famous
moments took place. As Pelé raced to meet
a through ball, Uruguay’s goalkeeper rushed
out to try and snuf out the attack. Just as
Pelé and the ball met the keeper at the edge
of the box, Pelé feinted as if he was going to
collect the ball and try to round the keeper.
Instead, he left the ball untouched, passing
the bamboozled keeper on one side, the ball
on the other. Pelé over-rotated after collecting
the ball at a wide angle and sent his shot
wide of the far post, but the moment is still
remembered as a great illustration of Pelé’s
footballing brilliance, despite the miss.
The inal of the 1970 World Cup took place
at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. Brazil
met their antithesis, an Italy side known for its
‘Catenaccio’, or ‘door-bolt’, defensive system.
It was a game that, perhaps more than any
other, would cement Pelé’s legend. Fittingly,
it was Pelé who opened the scoring in the
18th minute with a powerful header, the
diminutive igure rising high in the air to beat
his taller marker. Italy found a way back into
the game through Boninsegna on 37 minutes,
exploiting a loose pass at the back. It stayed 1-1
going into half-time. Gerson took Brazil back
into the lead with a powerful long-range drive
in the 66th minute, and was again involved
for Brazil’s third, sending a long ball loating
into the opposition box. Pelé was there to
meet the pass with the perfect cushioned
header sent back across goal into the path
of an onrushing Jairzinho to give Brazil a 3-1
lead. Brazil then signed of with a goal that
epitomised the lowing attacking football that
had made this 1970 team such a pleasure to
watch. It was the perfect inal lourish to cap
of a phenomenal tournament, and a goal that
was truly worthy of a World Cup inal. Indeed,
it would go down in history as one of the
greatest team goals ever scored.
The move started after Brazil won the ball
deep in their own half. After an exchange
of passes, the ball ended up with Clodoaldo
at the base of midield. He danced his way
past four Italian players to the delight of the
crowd, and then laid the ball of to Rivelino on
the left side of the pitch at the halfway line.
Rivelino played the ball forward to Jairzinho,
who had drifted over from the right lank.
Pelé later said that this was a deliberate ploy –
Italy were employing a man-marking system,
so Jairzinho would periodically drift over to
pull Italy left back Giacinto Facchetti out of
position, opening a space on the right they
called ‘the avenue’. After receiving Rivelino’s
pass, Jairzinho cut inside and laid the ball of
to Pelé in the middle of the pitch. He paused
for a moment, holding the ball up while he
waited for the right moment to release it. Then
he nonchalantly slid the ball out onto the right,
into ‘the avenue’ Jairzinho vacated and ran
into the path of an onrushing Carlos Alberto.
Alberto crowned the move by smashing the
ball low into the far corner. The inal ended
4-1. Attack beat defence. Beauty triumphed
over austerity.
The 1970 trophy was Brazil’s third, making
them the most successful team in World
Cup history. They cemented their status as
a premier football nation, and did it with the
characteristic style that made ‘Brazilian’ a
byword for skill, technique and lair. Pelé was
recognised as the star of that unbelievably
talented team, and awarded the Golden Ball
for player of the tournament. It was Pelé’s last
World Cup, and the perfect end for his special
relationship with the competition.
The beautiful football with which the 1970
Brazil team wowed the world should give us
cause to remember that the legend of Pelé
should not overshadow the talents of his
teammates. Players like the great Garrincha,
who played alongside Pelé in 1958 and led his
nation to World Cup glory in 1962 in Pelé’s
absence. Or the phenomenal Jairzinho, who
scored in every game of the 1970 tournament.
Yet, while recognising their greatness, it is
telling that even among all that gifted talent,
Pelé’s teammates and rivals revered him as the
best. He is the most complete player football
has ever seen, and he is unquestionably
the World Cup’s greatest icon. He gave the
tournament some of its greatest moments and,
in return, it gave him his.
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