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Posts: 3466
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
RIP Pele'
Most may know that Pele' died today at the age of 82. Pele' was arguably the all-time world's greatest athlete, not because he was the most well-known, but because he really was the greatest athlete in a world-wide sport. In Brazil he was considered, officially and unofficially, a national treasure.
RIP Pele'.
Bill
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And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
He was/is probably the most well-known person in the world globally. Yet before the internet age (and not being Brazilian) it was impossible to actually see him play unless you watched live the world cups, and I was too young for the ones he played in (1958-1970).
In the 1980s a curios film landed in Bulgaria, called "Escape to Victory" - I see now simply named "Victory" - made in 1981. It is a WWII sports film, of sorts - "As allied P.O.W.s prepare for a soccer game against the German National Team to be played in Nazi-occupied Paris, the French Resistance and British officers are making plans for the team's escape."
It may not be much (I was enthralled, but I loved going to the movies and certainly wanted to see Pele play), but I think it was fun, and one can see Pele doing his famous bicycle kick which basically bore his name back then; also other famous soccer/football stars. It also features Silvester Stallone and Michael Caine, and Max von Sydow (!) (for the English lot - Bobby Moore is also in it)
I think I also remember maybe the Argentinian player (Ardiles) doing the ball flip trick from the back over one's self and thus overcoming an opponent in a flashy way, but am not certain because I seem to remember that it was a very well known to me player who did it in the film but now that I scan the names I don't recognise outright. Was Ardiles that well known to me then? Probably, as he was part of the 1978 Argentinian football team that won the most recent (then) world cup. For some reason I am sad that such a vivid association can completely disappear from my memory.
Here's the IMDB link to the film. Looks like it is on Amazon Prime so I might re-watch it after all these years... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083284/
My son played soccer from age six. By age 12 he was on a city select team in Austin, and continued to play until he graduated from high school.
Together we watched Pele’s last game on TV. He played one half for his home team Santos of Brazil, and one half for his last employer Cosmos of New York. The game ended in a 1 to 1 tie, both goals by Pele.
Afterward Pele was interviewed. He made only a very brief statement. I probably don’t have it verbatim, but it was approximately, “Football is a beautiful game. You use your legs to make the move, you use your head to make the play, and you use your heart to make the team.”
Pele' was quoted as saying, not as a boast but as a simple fact: "Soccer is to me as music was to Beethoven."
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
Ardiles was a massive star at Spurs at the time, so would have been well known to the film’s primary audience. The Wikipedia page for the film is a revelation—I always assumed it was a spontaneous piece of British patriotic nonsense, but it turns out to be based on Hungarian patriotic nonsense and have its roots in Ukrainian patriotic legend. And music by Shostakovich, sort of.
I remember Stallone’s performance as a goalkeeper being hilarious, and this in spite of coaching by no less a person than Gordon Banks.
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