I met Pele once. face to face. It happened a little over 30 years ago, in a suite on the top floor of the Sheraton Hotel in Gothenburg, Sweden. Pele arrived in Sweden as the guest of honor of the Euro 1992 tournament held in the country, and not by chance.
After all, Pele’s breakthrough was in Sweden 34 years earlier, at the 1958 World Cup. Pele was then a 17-and-a-half-year-old boy who conquered the world and led the Brazilian team to its first World Cup victory. He scored a brace in the final, in the game where his legend began to be written.
Seven journalists from different countries gathered in the suite to talk to Pele, and luckily I was the only one among them who could speak Portuguese. Even though I was the youngest of them all, before the round of questions began I increased my courage and turned to the man simply: “Get up and don’t fall?”
Pele was surprised. He did not expect to hear questions in Portuguese, especially when I explained to him, when I was shaking with excitement, that I was from Israel. Then, instead of me asking him questions, he started questioning me. how do you know portuguese Where did you visit in Brazil?
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that the rest of the journalists in the room, all older than me, from countries slightly more senior than Israel, were moving uneasily. But I didn’t care – and what’s even more amazing, Pele didn’t care. I told him that I had been to Rio, Sao Paulo, Salvador and Recife, “but I didn’t get to be in the Terrace Corsowash”. A huge smile spread across Pela’s face. Teres Corsowash (three hearts, in Portuguese), the little town where he was born, which few have heard of.
And so, for a few minutes, one of the greatest footballers of all time conducted a small talk with an anonymous journalist from Israel. I asked him if he comes to his hometown from time to time, and Pele said: “I come maybe once a year, because I don’t have time. I still have family there, on my mother’s side. There is an aunt and some cousins. But it is a far place. When I was 7 years old, we moved to Bauro , very far from there, when my father moved to play in the local team.”
After that, the other journalists, who had already become impatient, were given the right to ask questions. And this time in English of course. But these few minutes, in which Pele talked to me and talked about his family, about his childhood, stayed with me forever. In these few moments in his company I realized that in the end, despite all the success and publicity, despite three World Cups and many hundreds of goals he scored, even though for the Brazilian people Pele is the king, “O Ray” – this is actually Edson Arantes do Nascimento.
The same 10-year-old Edson, who saw his father Dondinho cry when the Brazilian team lost in the 1950 World Cup final, and assured him: “Dad, don’t worry, I will bring the cup to Brazil.” He was a legendary footballer, but at the same time a smiling and optimistic person, without royal mannerisms, one who represents the Brazilian people in the purest way. Full of a simple and contagious joie de vivre.
In two years the world said goodbye to the two greatest footballers who lived on this ball in the generation before Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. First it was Diego Armando Maradona who passed away and now Pele has joined him on the playground above. Pele the man is no longer with us – but his legend will live on forever.
