Pelé, against Barcelona SC, “did not seem human” because at the Modelo stadium he “did the impossible” | Soccer | Sports
Pelé could not do a dribble to death. Considered by many to be the best of all footballers, time passed this Thursday, at the age of 82. “Pelé transformed football into art, into entertainment,” Neymar wrote on social networks, mourning the death of the legendary world football star. For these two reasons expressed by the auriverde player from Paris Saint-Germain, the memory and legacy of oh king they are eternal.
For César Luis Menotti, Pelé’s teammate at Santos Futebol Clube, the Brazilian star “was the greatest of all” because, among many other reasons, “when he entered the field, it became something very difficult to explain.” Those descriptions that the Argentine coach, world champion in 1979, makes of Pelé, could be verified by the Guayaquil public six decades ago, at a time when the great figures of universal football could be seen by the Buenos Aires fans live and direct on George Capwell Stadium or the Modelo. Today, only on television.
If in 1959 Pelé’s first visit to Ecuador was considered by EL UNIVERSO as “the great football spectacle of the year”, when the young star landed that time as champion of the 1958 World Cup, held a semester earlier in Sweden, the The superb soccer symphony that Santos gave with his monster, in 1962, exhausted all possible praise from Guayaquil sports journalism.
Pelé returned being, indisputably, the best player on the planet. The announcement of his presence, to measure Barcelona SC at the Modelo stadium, causing commotion. The arrival of the Santos was anticipated in this newspaper as “something outstanding, out of the ordinary.” It was added that “the fans are delighted” by the presentation of “a constellation of stars” that “with wonderful football has amazed all audiences in the universe.” Del Santos told this newspaper in 1962 that “it will be headed by Pelé, the best footballer the planet has ever produced.”
‘The eternal jumps’
“Finally”, the São Paulo delegation landed in Guayaquil on January 6, 1962 to play, 24 hours later, against a “suitably reinforced Barcelona”. That ‘Santos de Pelé’ “fell in love with his game. He had an insulting impudence and natural ability to score goals”, highlighted the newspaper Marca, which in a special series on legendary teams highlighted, in 2011, “Pepe’s powerful left foot, Pelé’s eternal leaps, Dorval’s intelligence and the depth of Mengalvio”.
On January 7, 1962, Barcelona SC lined up on the packed stage of Avenida de las Américas with Bonnard; Herrera (Esteves), Lecaro, Macias; J. Merizalde (Zambrano), Reeves Patterson; Gando, B. Merizalde (Pinto), Cordero (Romero), Calderón (Altamirano), Cañarte (Navas). Santos formed with Laercio (Gilmar); Lima, Olavo, Decio; Zito (Getulio) Calvet (Formiga); Dorval (Tite) Mengalvio, Coutinho (Pagão), Pelé, Pepe.
‘He accomplished the unrealizable’
With Santista goals from Zito and Pepe, and a discount from Mario Cordero, they all went to rest. But in the plugin Coutinho broke loose and “flaunted efficiency” with four goals. Vicente Lecaro, from a penalty, beat Gilmar.
In the duel won 6-2, Pelé did not score, but amazed by the artistic and luxurious game that O Rei provided on the Modelo field, the famous journalist Ricardo Chacón commented on this, in his column ‘Prismas del Deporte’, in EL UNIVERSO: “Pelé didn’t need to score goals, because his class was manifested through plays to remember. Feint on either side, passes to teammates as if to say ‘this goal is yours’. Carrying out the unrealizable, what does not seem to be a human trajectory”.
According to the book titled Pele. Memoirs of the best soccer player of all timethe friendly commitment against Barcelona SC, in 1962, was number 406 of Edson Arantes do Nascimento’s professional career between 1956 and 1977 (counting those who played for the Sao Paulo club, the Brazil team and the New York Cosmos) . (D)