Soccer Legend Pele dead at 82...RIP

[Big Turk]

Tragic...

 

https://apnews.com/article/pele-soccer-star-dead-f2c5f7d2771b96dbd854cb025ab2563a

[Draconator]

 

[TBBills]

I don't see how's its tragic, he lived a long and great life.

[US Egg]

9 hours ago, TBBills said:

I don't see how's its tragic, he lived a long and great life.

Deaths because of a blizzard is tragic.

 

Pele likely lived king like for 3/4 of his 82 years.

 

This isn’t tragic, just the sad passing of a fabled athlete.

[Bad Things]

I'm grateful to have seen him play in Rochester, against the Lancers back in 1977.  (He was playing for the NY Cosmos) I was a kid back then, and it was a big deal.

He scored a goal or maybe even two.

 

God bless you, Pele.

[Nextmanup]

Didn't hear this news yet until seeing it now!

 

He was a total athletic freak who was born to play, like Maradona, Johan Cruyff, and only a few others on that level.  

 

Playing professionally at 15 and good enough to get on the Brazilian national team at 16!  LOL!  

 

You see a talent like this in any sport only a few times in your life.

 

I'm right on the cusp of remembering him as a child, but not really.  

 

I do remember when it was news that he signed with the NY Cosmos.  

[LeGOATski]

When I was a kid, Pele was always considered the best ever. Like the Michael Jordan or Gretzky of soccer. Then sometime recently the narrative switched to Maradona being the best ever along with all the talk about Messi being the best. That switch has confused me. Anyone else feel the same? Maybe it's just me.

 

RIP

[Buddo]

4 hours ago, LeGOATski said:

When I was a kid, Pele was always considered the best ever. Like the Michael Jordan or Gretzky of soccer. Then sometime recently the narrative switched to Maradona being the best ever along with all the talk about Messi being the best. That switch has confused me. Anyone else feel the same? Maybe it's just me.

 

RIP

 

Some of it is the very real rivalry between Argentina and Brazil, in respect of football.

 

Essentially, the Argentinians are wanting to call one of their own 'the best ever'.

 

There is also the 'recency' bias, where a lot of fans never got to see Pele at his best, yet Maradona and Messi highlights are all over the place.

 

The era that Pele played in, was a whole lot harder than it is now, in respect of challenges. In 1966, Pele was quite literally kicked out of the World Cup, by the ferocity of the fouls he had against him. That was the 'plan' to stop him, because they couldn't come up with any other way.

 

Pele won his first World Cup in 1958. He scored 2 goals in the final, one of which is an audacious chip over a defender, followed by a volley into the net. He was 17 years old.

 

With his combination of pace, power, being able to play the ball equally well with either left or right foot, Pele made just about everything look easy. He was also a terrific header of the ball.

 

Perhaps though, one thing that really made him stand out, was his vision. He seemed to see what was happening way ahead of anyone else.

 

In a wonderful Brazilian side that won the World Cup in 1970 in Mexico, he still stood out. Those are probably highlights that are still accessible, as all of the games were televised.

 

There's an absolutely thunderous free kick, that the goalkeeper never even sniffs.

 

There's an attempt from the half-way line, that just goes wide. You see that sort of thing from time to time these days, but nobody ever even thought of doing it until Pele tried it.

 

There's an utterly ridiculous dummy of a goalkeeper, that leaves him for dead, but Pele is just unable to squeeze the ball in, from a tight angle, which was another move that nobody else would have even thought of.

 

Some great headed goals, not least the first one of the final itself.

 

Somewhat fittingly, it's Pele who plays the final pass for the last goal of the final, which he casually strokes into the path of his captain, who blasts the ball into the back of the net.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63848421

 

Much of what I talked about is contained within clips in the article. While the pictures of the clips are black and white, all the stuff from 1970, are actually colour videos.

 

I was privileged to watch those games live (on TV), and they left an indelible impression, that has never left me.

 

While I've been impressed with things that the likes of Maradona and Messi have done, I've never been in awe, like I was when watching Pele.

 

The only other player who has given me that same sense, was George Best, and ironically, Pele was once asked 'what's it like to be the best footballer in the world?', to which he replied 'I don't know, you had better ask George Best'.

 

[Logic]

The true GOAT of soccer.

A global star on the level of Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan.

Absolute legend.

RIP.

[Nextmanup]

5 hours ago, LeGOATski said:

When I was a kid, Pele was always considered the best ever. Like the Michael Jordan or Gretzky of soccer. Then sometime recently the narrative switched to Maradona being the best ever along with all the talk about Messi being the best. That switch has confused me. Anyone else feel the same? Maybe it's just me.

 

RIP

No, he was one of the best ever back in his day; I wouldn't say Maradona eclipsed him, but was added to the Pantheon of soccer legends (Maradona was at his peak in the '80s, after Pele's time really).

 

No one has suggested Messi is better than either of those guys; he has worn the crown as "best all around soccer player playing at the moment" for a solid decade +now I would say.

 

Messi is more in the "best right now" group with guys like Roberto Baggio, Lothar Matthäus, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo (the Brazilian one), Ronaldhino, etc.  These guys usually last for a decade or so and then age out of that spot.  

 

At any moment in time there are a small handful of "best in the game right now guys".  Messi is one of those.

 

Pele and Maradona are in the "best of all time" crowd with Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, and so on.