Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/321747
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 JUNE 2014 47 Sweden 1958: Pele: 'Our talent was enough to win the title Pele started to win Brazil's first World Cup title – that of Sweden 1958 – well in advance: precisely eight years earlier, when Brazil lost 2-1 to Uruguay in the famous "Maracanazo" in the 1950 World Cup final DIANA RENEE "I kept to this day the radio in which my father heard the final. He wept before the device that an- nounced the defeat. I hugged him hard and I told him: 'Don't cry, dad. I will one day win a World Cup for you'," recalls "O Rei," who to this day has trouble holding back tears when he tells the story. The chance to fulfil that prom- ise came earlier than expected. At age 17, Pele was already a well- known and much-admired player within Brazil. However, the teenager came close to being excluded from the national team just before the start of the World Cup. He got in- jured during a preparation match against Brazilian club Corinthi- ans, and he asked coach Vicente Feola not to take him to Sweden. "I thought I could be taking the place of a player who could be more useful for the team. But (na- tional team) doctor Hilton Gos- sling, coach Feola and (physical trainer) Mario Americo hoped that I would recover," Pele recalls. Besides members of the national team's technical staff, veteran play- ers in the team, like Nilton Santos and Didi, also took on the task of supporting Pele in Sweden."Didi was like an older brother for me. I owe him a lot," says the man who grew up to become one of the best players in history. Due to his injury, Pele started the World Cup on the bench, just like almost every other black play- er in Feola's squad including the legendary Garrincha. After the failed 1950 and 1954 attempts to win the World Cup, a report by the former Brazilian Sports Confederation (CBD) was circulated that recommended not including black players in the squad that was to play the World Cup in Sweden. "Experts" that the CBD con- sulted argued that blacks would be more vulnerable to nostalgia for their country, that they lacked self-control when under pressure and that they would not adapt well to the cold weather in Europe. To this day, there is no confir- mation of whether the report in- f luenced Brazil's starting line-up, but the team that defeated Aus- tria 3-0 in their first match fea- tured only two black players. The line-up changed only after the goal-less draw against England, the first such result in World Cup history. The draw set off a red alert and coach Feola accepted changes within the team. On June 15, 1958, Brazil started their match against the mighty Soviet Union with Garrincha and Zito to replace Dino and Joel, and with the young Pele instead of Mazola. And they launched their raid to the title. Four days later, Pele scored his first World Cup goal, in the 1-0 win over Wales that took Brazil through to the semi-finals. "O Rei," currently aged 73, re- calls that Brazil was not regarded as one of the teams most likely to win the tournament in Swe- den. The leader of that pack was the France team led by Just Fon- taine, who scored 13 goals in that tournament and remains to this day the top goalscorer in a single World Cup. World Cup history – then as now - supported the myth that tournaments that were held in Europe favoured European teams, whose playing style was in theory better adapted to conditions in European stadiums. "The great favourites were ob- viously the Europeans, but that Brazilian team brought together some of the best players of all time: Gilmar, Djalma Santos, Or- lando, Bellini, Nilton Santos, Zito, Didi, Garrincha, Vava, Zagallo and me," Pele notes. "O Rei" further recalls that there was no "espionage" structure at the time, and that unlike today coaches could not establish in ad- vance the tactics for each match based on their rivals' styles. According to Pele, when Bra- zil arrived in Stockholm's Solna stadium to play the final against the hosts, their players and coach Feola had virtually no idea of Swe- den's strengths and weaknesses. "The most information one could get about rivals was whether they played rather defensively or were rather attack-oriented. There was no video, satellite broadcasts or statistical assessments. We only had the talent of a Didi, a Garrin- cha, a Nilton Santos, a Pele. And that talent was enough for us to win our first World Cup," he said. "Don't cry, dad. I will one day win a World Cup for you," told Pele his father after the famous "Maracanazo". Photo by: picture-alliance / dpa