Pelé: Bernardo Jose

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé was born in 1940 in Tres Coracoes, Brazil Pelé didn't receive the nickname until school days.he was given the name because of his pronunciation of the name of his favourit player a former Vasco da Gama goalkeeper Bile which he misspoke ''pile but he didn't like the name and he got suspended from school for punching the classmate that made fun about his name but The more he complained the more it stuck, In his autobiagrahy, Pelé stated he had no idea what the name means, The word has no known meaning, although it does resemble the Irish language word 'peile' meaning football and the hebrew language word means ''wonder.

Growing up in poverty in Bauru, Pelé earned extra money by shining shoes at the Athletic Club on match days. Taught to play by his Dad whose own professional football career with Atletico Mineiro ended early due to a knee injury,Pelé could not afford a proper football and usually played with either a sock stuffed with newspaper, tied with a string, as a child Pelés first team was called the ''shoeless ones'' formed by himself and other boys from the same street, When they entered a local tournament organised by the mayor of Bauru that required footwear, and were no longer called the shoeless and were renamed Ameriquinha. They reached the final in BAC Stadium in front of thousand of spectators and won with Pelé ending up as the tournament top scorer.

In 1954, several member of the Ameriquinha team. including Pelé, were invited to join the Baquinho boy's team to be managed by former Brazilian international who played in the 1934 World Cup in Italy. for the first time Pelé was paid to play football. they won the 1954 Youth Championship organised by the newspapers Diario de Bauru and the Sao Paulo Sporting Gazette with Pelé scoring 148 goals in 33 games at the age of 15 and a half.

In 1956, De Brito took Pelé to Santos, an industrial and port city in the eastern state of Sao Paulo, to try out for a professional Club Santos Futebol Club, while they were there de Brito told the directors at Santos that 15-years old would be one of the greatest football player in the world, Pelé trained with the youths for few weeks even before his trail ended Pelé was signed to be a Santos player, he made his debut for Santos in 1956, scoring one goal in a 7-1 friendly victory over Corinthians.

In the start of the 1957 season Pelé was given his first season start in the first team at the age of just 16, he became the top scorer in the in the league. just ten month after signing his first professional contract with Santos Futbol Club, the young teenger was called up to the Brazil national team for the first time Pelé's first international match was a 2-1 defeat against Argentina on July 7, 1957. In that match, he scored his first goal for Brazil, three months before his 17th birthday.

His World Cup debut was against the USSR national football team in the first round of the 1958 FIFA World Cup, he was the youngest player of that tournament, and at the time the youngest ever to play in the World Cup He was only 17 at the time He scored his first World Cup goal against Wales in quarterfinals, the only goal of the match to help Brazil advance to semifinals, while becominf the youngest ever World Cup goalscorer at 17 years and 239 days. Against France in the semifinals, Brazil was leading 2-1 at halftime, and then Pelé scored a hat-trick becomng the youngest in World Cup history to do so.

On June nineteenth 1958 Pelé became the youngest player in a World Cup final match at 17 years and 249 days. He scored two goals in the final Brazil beat Sweden < 5-2, his first goal, a lob over a defender followed by a precise volley shot, was selected as one of the best goals in the history of the World Cup. When the match ended, he passed out on the field and had to be attended by medical staff. He soon recovered, and was full of tears as being congratulated by his teammates. he finished the tournament with six goals in four matches played, tied for seconf place, behind record- breaker Just Fontaine.

In the first match of the 1962 World Cup against Mexico, Pelé assisted the first goal and then scored the final goal to go up 2-0 after an amazing run past four defenders. He injured himself while attempting a long- range shot against Czechoslovakia this would keep him out of the rest of the tournament, and forced coach Aymore Moreira to make his only lineup change of the tournament. The substitute was Amarilo Tavares da Silveira, who had a good performance in the tournament, it was however, Garrincha, who would take the leading role and carried Brazil to their second World Cup title. after the World Cup Wealthy European clubs offered massive fees just to sign the young player, but the government of Brazil declared Pelé an official national '' treasure'' to prevent him from being transferred out of the Country.

The 1966 World Cup was remembered for its phyical play, and Pelé was one of the players affected by such play after becoming the first player to ever score in three World Cups, with a direct free kick against Bulgaria, he had to rest, due to tiredness, for the match against Hungary, which Brazil lost 1-3 he then faced portugal, and several violent tackles by a portuguese defender caused him to leave the match and the touranament. Brazil lost the match and were eliminated in the first round of the World Cup for the first time since 1934 FIFA World Cup. After the tournament, Pelé declared the he did not wish to play in the World Cup again.

Four years later in 1969 Pelé was called to the national team for the last six of team 1970 World Cup qualifying matches He first refused, but then accepted and played, in the FIFA World Cup qualification matches where he scored six goals.

On November Nineteeth 1969, Pelé scored his 1000th goal in all competitions, This was a highly anticipated moment in Brazil The goal was called O milesimo (The Thousandth), the goal he scored was a penalty against Vasco da Gama, at the Maracana Stadium.Pelé said that his most beautiful goal secondd at Rua Javari Stadium against Sao Paulo rivals Juventus Club on August 2 1959. A there is no video footage of the match, Pelé asked that a computer animation be made of this specific goal.In March 1961 Pelé scored the ( gol de place (goal worth of a plaque), a goal against Fluminense Football Club at the Maracana, Which was regarded as so spectacular that a plaque was commissioned with a dedication to the most beautiful goal in the history of the Maracana.

In 1967, the two Factions involved in the Nigerian Civil War agreed to a 48- hour ceasefire so they could watch Pelé play an exhibition game in Lagos, A year later Santos Futebol Clube were playing against Cruzeiro Esporte Clube and Pelé broke the leg of one of the greatest player to ever played for Cruzeiro. His name was Procopio.

The 1970 World Cup in Mexico was to be Pelés last. Brazil's squad for the tournament featured major player's in relation to the 1966 squad. Players like Garrincha, Nilton, Djalma, Gilmar had already retired, but the team, with Pelé, Rivelino, Jairzinho, Gerson, Tostao, and Clodoaldo,is widely considered one of the greatest football team ever. Brazil played Italy in the final, with Pelé scoring the opener on a header over defender, he then made assists on Jairzinho's and Carlos Alberto's goals, Brazil won the match 4-1, Burgnich, who marked Pelé during the match, later Interviewed saying ''I told myself before the game, he's made of skin and bone just like everyone else - but i was wrong'', Pelé's last international match was on July 1971 against Yugoslavia in Rio de Janeiro, With Pelé on the field, the Brazilian team's record was 67 wins, 14 draws, and 11 losses, and went on to win three World Cup. Brazil never lost a match with both Pelé and Garrincha on the field.

After the 1972 season (his 17th season with santos), Pelé retired from Brazilian club football During his time at santos, Pelé played alongside many gifted players, including Zito, Pepe and Coutinho they later partnered him in numerous one-two plays, attacks, and goals. Two years later, he signed with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League for the 1975 season. Though then past his prime, Pelé led the Cosmos to the 1977 NASL Championship, in his third and final season with the Club,

On October first, 1977, Pelé closed out his legendary career in an exhibition match between the Cosmos and Santos. Santos arrived in New York and New Jersey after previously defeating the Seattle Sounders 2-0. The match was played in front of a capacity crowd at Giants Stadium and was televised in the United States on ABC as well as throughout the world. Pelés father and wife both attended the match. Pelé gave a brief pre-match speech during which he asked the crowd to say the word ''love'' with him three times. Pelé played the first half for the Cosmos and the second half for Santos. Reynaldo scored the first goal for Santos. and then Pelé scored his final goal from a direct free kick, driving the ball past the diving Santos goalkeeper.

At halftime, the Cosmos retired Pele's number 10. Pele presented his Cosmos shirt to his father, who was escorted to the field by Cosmos captain Werner Roth, Cosmos won the match 2-1. After the match, Pele was embraced by the Cosmos players, including longtime rival Giorgio Chinaglia, And then ran around the field while holding an American flag in his left hand and a Brazilian flag in his right hand. Pele was soon lifted by several Cosmos players and carried around the field.The number of league goals scored by Pelé is listed as 589 in 605 games.This number is the ammount of the goals scored by Pelé in the league, In December 2000, Pelé was named Footballer of the Century by FIFA.