“I’m going to win a World Cup for you”: the promise that Pelé made to his father and made him the king of soccer

He was nine years old and a few months old when he saw his father crying inconsolably next to an old radio while listening to the story of a soccer game. It was July 16, 1950 and in the Maracana Stadium, filled with more than 200 million people, the worst (soccer) crime in Brazil was perpetrated: the team lost the World Cup at home to Uruguay. And there was the father of Pele externalizing the worst feeling that can be in front of his little son.

Why are you crying, dad? Little Edson asked him innocently. He didn’t receive any response, but he didn’t hesitate to make her a promise either. He told her without imagining that his words would not only ease the pain, but also mark his destiny. He would be a footballer just like his father, Joao Ramos do Nascimento, but he would go much further.

Eight years later, Pelé was called up to be part of the Brazilian team to play in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. On those long sunny days of the Swedish summer, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, now 17 years old, would lift the World Cup for the first time, as well as being the youngest champion and scored a double in the final, something that no one has even been able to achieve. He had not reached the age of majority, but he already knew how much the golden trophy weighed, the one that Lionel Messi celebrates to the fullest today.

curious thing, Pele He once told that when he arrived in the European country, nobody knew anything about Brazil and that they even asked him through an interpreter how Buenos Aires was. Angry he replied: “Listen, Buenos Aires is in Argentina, not in Brazil”, and withdrew. Perhaps that is why, despite the rumors of transfer proposals for the Real Madrid or the Manchester unitedhe preferred to stay in his country where he affirms that he felt comfortable and for him that was worth much more.

Pelé had already kept his promise. But he wanted more. Besides, he was still 17 years old and was destined to give Brazil the history it has today. He played three more World Cups and won two. An amazing brand that kylian mbappe He sought to reach Qatar 2022, but stayed at the gate of glory: Argentina, by Leo Messi, came out champion!

In England 66 I ask to have achieved the three-time championship, but in the match against Eusebio’s Portugal he was kicked until he couldn’t. The reprehensible strategy of coach Otto Glória paid off and the Europeans won 3-1 with a double from the ‘Black Panther’, while Pelé was unable to score.

In Mexico 70, Pelé increased his legend and put him in a place on Olympus that no one could reach: he became a three-time world champion. No one has achieved it so far. They can surpass his marks, they can surpass him in goals, but they will never match his legacy. Above all, the joy that he could give his father will remain in history. “I could say that God gave me everything back”he once told.

How is Pele?

A large part of the children and grandchildren of the former Brazilian soccer player Edson Arantes do Nascimento “Pelé” They spent Christmas night at the hospital where the three-time world champion has been hospitalized for almost a month, at a time when his delicate state of health is a reason for care and concern.

“Almost every”he claimed Kely Nascimentoone of the daughters of what many consider to be the best soccer player of all time, posting a photo on her Instagram account in the early hours of this Sunday morning in which she appears together with her brothers and her mother in the hospital room where Pelé He was admitted on November 29.

In the image are the wife of the “king”, Marcia Aokihis three eldest children, including the exporter Edinhowho arrived in Sao Paulo on Saturday, and some of the grandchildren, but the bed in which they do not appear Pele is under intensive care.

“Almost every. Merry Christmas. Gratitude, love, togetherness, family… The essence of Christmas. We thank all of you for all the love and light that you direct our way. In this crazy and amazing life, I would be nothing without them. Today and always: Merry Christmas, happy everything”Nascimento stated in his publication.

One of the last to arrive was Edinhoformer Santos goalkeeper and current coach of the Londrina club, whose professional commitments only allowed him to go to the hospital on Saturday.

The state of health of the 82-year-old former soccer player has captured the attention in Brazil since last Wednesday, when the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo reported a worsening of the colon cancer that he was diagnosed with in 2021 and said that Pelé is receiving care related to “kidney and heart dysfunctions”.