Interview by Steve Clare
The Pele Interview: I hope football keeps going until we see USA in the World Cup Final
In Part 1 of Prost Amerika’s exclusive interview with Pele, he talked about which players he had wished were Brazilian, his hardest opponents and the player with whom he could never be defeated; the great Garrincha known as the Little Wren.
With Pelé on the field, the Brazilians won 67, drew 14 and lost 11. In today’s parlance, that would be 215 points in 92 matches.
He retired from international football in 1971 and missed the most embarrassing World Cup for the Brazilians ever (at that time) in 1974. A Dutch team inspired by Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens eliminated Brazil 2-0 in Dortmund.
However, the humiliation of that 1974 World Cup pales into insignificance compared to 2014. The 7-1 hammering by the Germans is a very raw matter and when asked about it Pele decided to answer openly but not before having his own piece of fun:
“(straightfaced) This is in the past. Don’t talk about this. (starts to laugh). Yes (trying but failing to suppress laughter) Change the subject.
“But now seriously. Serious. You are right. You are right. It was sad for us. It was difficult because the World Cup in Brazil, everybody expected Brazil to play as one and play good, and get to the final. But unfortunately, we had a big problem to organize the team.
“I don’t know if you remember but the people remember one month before the World Cup Brazil hadn’t yet set out the team, because a lot of players are out; then we were a little confused how to organize the team.”
Pele had seen this coming but few in Brazil wanted to listen amid the overwhelming hype about the team.
“I mentioned six months before the World Cup that I saw the Germans play. I mentioned in a lot of interviews. I said “Okay it would be difficult to beat the Germans”. That was something that they made me suffer for in a little sense.
Pele is just old enough to remember the day that Brazil lost the last world Cup held there, a very painful defeat to local rivals Uruguay.
“The other thing that happened again and the newer generation may not know was this. With Brazil, in four World Cups, we won three all outside of Brazil. The World Cup was played in Brazil in the 50s. We lost that one. And now we lost to the Germans. The two we played in Brazil we lost.”
Pele retired from club football with Santos in 1973 and was persuaded out of retirement to play for the New York Cosmos in the fledgling NASL He has good memories of that period and is upbeat about the current state of American soccer:
“Soccer in the United States has improved a lot. Today that’s a reality. I feel proud to have been part of that because we went there with Cosmos in this tournament. Cosmos would become the best team with excellent players to move the level of football in the United States a lot. For me it was fantastic because I came to play in the United States to promote soccer in the United States and then I had a lot; as I played with Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia, Carlo Alberto, Neeskens. It was an excellent team.
“Then I retired as a champion in the United States again. It was a good gift from God for me. Now I hope football in the United States will keep going until we wait for, maybe one day, the United States team in the final of the World Cup.”
Pele then headed off to a Central London Subway restaurant to carry out his promotional work for them, alongside Liverpool FC legends Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman.
Two days later, he watched their current side lose to Manchester United at Anfield in Liverpool before the arduous flight to Australia. His energy and effervescence are as good an advert for his sponsors as any photo op.
Brazil
