Rarely the passing of a public figure grieves me. I miss Pele. Since the sad news every time I think about him, I feel sad.

I feel like I have to do something to pay tribute. Does anyone know a reliable online store selling decent quality Pele tribute shirts ?

CBF should do something like this.

I was rewatching some 1970 WC final footage. Let’s just say Italy’s equalizer scored by Boninsegna involved some seriously comical defending and goalkeeping by Brazil 🤣What happened against Croatia is no flash in the pan. Brazil were always very good at these sort of things 😉Only difference is that in 1970 it happened in the first half, and Brazil scored three more after that.

i am watching the Pele doc on Netflix, and Juka Kfouri describes that after the Maracanazao Brazil developed an inferiority complex, a coined phrase "the mutt (or mogrel) complex", and that Pele in 1950 "allowed Brazilians to love themselves again" ... i found that very moving.

I have never known a world without Pele as he was introduced to me by my father as a 9 year old in 1986. The reverence with which my father regarded Pele was enough for me to even imagine him as otherworldly then when I was old enough to watch the grainy videos myself I instantly understood the greatness of the man - he made me fall in love with Brazil (...and not just the football) and that affection still resides passionately in me over three decades later and I'm quite certain that it'll never die.

Long live the King of football,
He's gone but shall be remembered till the end of time.

Man City dropped big points. Is this Arsenal's year?

https://www.goal.com/en-us/...

My love for Carlo grows with every passing year.

While I consider Ronaldo to be undoubtedly the second greatest Brazilian of all time, I think he's well behind Pele. He would have been closer, had he not arrived in an embarassing physical shape for his fourth World Cup in 2006. Yes, he deserves credit for simply coming back from those two injuries, let alone winning a World Cup for Brazil after his retun. Yet, comparing 30-year-old Pele's performance in 1970 with that of 30-year-old Ronaldo in 2006, it's impossible to overlook the chasm separating them.

Ronaldo individual performance in 2002 is outstanding, close to none I have seen before, particularly after coming back from such an injury… nobody was given a cent for him.

True, and that's why I rate him higher than any Brazilian save for Pele. But Pele was Pele because he remained a winner till the end of his career, while Ronaldo just let go at some point.

Indeed

Not surprised pep is declaring Messi as greatest. This way he could go down in history as having developed such a player and of course help to solidify his own personal CV.

Pep can have his opinion which is always to benefit him. But he is wrong. I can’t tolerate his arrogance and his sense of knowing everything.

Pep never to be close to Brazil or Brazilian players

As he himself once said, "The human being Edson will die some day, Pele is immortal."
I remember, when i was a boy, he was already a myth. Hardly played for Brazil anymore. It was a surprise for me, when he returned to the national team in 1970 - as a matured and composed leader, not as a whirlwind. His presence helped to make that team the greatest one in WC history.

According to The Economist and FT, Pele is the greatest player of all times.

I know i am not the first to mention this, but isn’t it astonishing that in all 4 WCs Pele played in, he never truly lived up to the hype in any of them. And this is a testament to his greatness, if anything.

In 1958, he was a true revelation but no one knew about him

In 1962, he was supposed to be on top of the world, but we only got two games out of him.

1966, same as above but older and more experienced.

In 1970, he was already past prime despite putting a display that even legends would dream of.

Which begs the question, barring injuries , what year was Pele supposed to be at his peak, 1962 or 1966?

ASHOOR

1962 should have been the WC where he was at his prime. However, I think Maradona is the only elite—I mean, top 20 players—player to have won a WC during his prime and performing like he was in his prime. That’s why it’ll be nearly impossible for anyone to do what Maradona did in ‘86.

True.

The stars have to really align and it very rarely happens.

You mean scoring by hand?

Listen, man, I really don’t care for Argentina and most of their players. However, Maradona did have the best individual performance in World Cup history.

Still doesn't matter if a goal that helped them through was by cheating.

But then again, how many countries, people, companies are successful through corruption and cheating lol

EVERYBODY needs to re-watch those 70 WC games. Prime or no prime, Pele was a man among boys in that tournament.

Yeah, I don't see how one watches the 1970 games and doesn't think that was otherworldly from Pelé. It wasn't the same kid playing in 1958-1962, but one could make the case that this was the idealized version of a performer: outstanding individual making a team outstanding.

For those that have Instagram. Pele did it first…

https://www.instagram.com/r...

I posted said vid in previous thread from a YouTube feed.

It’s not difficult for me at all - Pele is THE greatest.

Pele is football.
Rest in peace, THE GREATEST...

This is a couple of years old, but so good:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/...

"Most people earn their living with their hands, but Edson Arantes do Nascimento earns his with his feet."

That's the opening lines of a feature story in an elementary English reader that I studied about 50 years ago.

That's when I started to take an interest in football and subsequently became a Brazil fan.

Thank you and rest in peace, Pele.

Thank you the greatest of all time in football! Rest in Peace!

Rest In Peace O’Rey Pele. You are the greatest of all times. Today is a sad day…

My falling in love with Brazil is a complex story with vague origins: Because it started at a very young age, I can't really say how or why it exactly happened. That said, this book is one of my earliest memories connected to Brazilian football. It's titled "Pele, Garrincha, Football." It was written by a Soviet journalist working in Brazil in the late 1960s (it ends with Brazil rebuilding for the 1970 World Cup under Joao Saldanha).

I read it as a child growing up in the Soviet Union in the 1980s and I learned a lot of things about Brazilian football. There is a chapter on Garrincha and the troubled final years of his career. There is a chapter about Sao Cristovao, an impoverished club which can barely feed its players. There's a reportage on the Fla-Flu derby (the latter coached by a young Tele Santana).

But the main character is Pele, of course. https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Defector's Ray Ratto with some nice words:

"...the trails Pelé blazed are now superhighways upon which Messi travels with ease. Whether he is as good a player is entirely a beholder’s eye-level argument, but he is today’s milder version of what Pelé once was—the person who explained soccer for those who never wanted to have it explained. Messi stands on Pelé’s shoulders, as Ronaldo did, as they all did, and the view from that vantage point is fairly breathtaking. Soccer as a fully global phenomenon including North America, though, is Pelé’s doing.... his enduring incandescence as the defining figure of the world’s most popular sport is so enduring that he is even forgiven the blot of Escape To Victory.

"In that way, he is bigger and better than Lionel Messi and all of his forebears, and almost certainly all those to come. Even at his death, he aced the test of time, and it can be truly said that we know Messi in the proper contexts because Pelé made it possible for us to do so."

https://defector.com/to-thi...

It is different to know that he was going through his last moments and to expect to hear the bad news and different to know that he is not among us any more. It is a very sad day.
Pele was, is and will be the King.
Thank you for being Brazilian.

Pele, rei do futebol, RIP (Rest In Power)!

One of these Pele tributes better refer to his Oscar worthy performance in “Hot Shot.”

In happier news, last night was the return of Zico's annual all-star charity game. The legend himself got his usual goal, as did his 14-year-old grandson Felipe Coimbra. Endrick also played and looked like, well, an athletically gifted active pro footballer playing around a bunch of former players with knee problems.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Yes, i saw the hi-lights yesterday and it was nice. Zico is very funny, a cartoon-like guy with his belly and smile, but a great legend. I think he lost a penalty in the 1st half, but later on he scored a goal, after combining with Djalminha.
It was also great to see a few stars of the past, like Savio, Grafite, Dodo, even the the great Junior.
A couple of the new guys also played, like Endrick and Jeffinho (i think). And Zico's grandson scored an impressive goal with a long shot.

I might seem bitter, but I am so annoyed that all of a sudden, it’s, “Pele, one of the greatest,” instead of “the greatest.” I don’t know the future, but Pele has not been surpassed. HE IS THE GREATEST!

It’s what I would call the GenX, GenZ thought process - even by some who are well beyond those age category.

Absolutely!

I’ve read and heard quite a few “largely considered the greatest to ever play” if it makes you feel better.

Honestly, I just find it strange that he lost a “title” just because the media have been dying to label Messi(or even CR7) the best of all time.

The reaction I’m seeing seems unprecedented. The only time I recall something similar is when Ali passed away.

Truly, the greatest.

Even if this is expected, I am heartbroken and have shed a few tears today. My dad is so sad too. He said a similar thing to what Lula just tweeted: “as a Palmeiras fan, even if he always destroyed my team, I couldn’t help but cheer for him and admire him”.

I’ve only watched Pelé play once (on TV), during a friendly organized for his 50th birthday. It was nothing, purely a celebration, and yet I’ll cherish having had the opportunity to see that man in cleats.

The best Brazilian.

Oh man, this is so sad.

Rest in Peace, the Greatest of All, the King, Mr. Football, Édson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé.

You always know it was coming, but it doesn’t make it any less painful.

PELE: The Greatest Of All Time ⚽️🇧🇷⚽️🇧🇷⚽️

Neymar just posted this in tribute to Pelé:

Before Pelé, "10" was just a number.
I read that phrase somewhere, at some point in my life.
But, although it's beautiful, it's incomplete.
I'd say that before Pelé, football was just a sport.
He changed everything.
He transformed football into art, into entertainment.
He gave a voice to poor people, black, people, and principally:
He brought visibility to Brazil.
Football and Brazil raised their status thanks to the King!
He is gone, but his magic will remain.
Pelé is ETERNAL!

https://www.facebook.com/ne...

I also have my own article about Pele, but in deference to all the hard work Zetona has been doing, I'll wait until a few days after his goes up.

My thirteen-year old son is crying right now. Even in grainy, black-and-white footage, Pele was his favorite player to watch and study.

A sad day, may the GOAT RIP.

Heartbroken 😔

My deepest sympathies to the king’s family! May his soul rest in peace! Good bye king