Ronald Reagan introduces himself to Pele
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Interview by Steve Clare
Pele is simply the greatest footballer who ever lived. With Brazil, he won the World Cup in 1958, 1962 and 1970, the only player to have three World Cup winners medals.
He was named Player of the Century by both France Football and the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.
In his career, he scored over 1000 goals and was elected Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee. In total he is calculated to have scored 1281 goals in 1363 games, including unofficial friendlies and tour games, of which Santos has many due to his global popularity.
Born in 1940, Pelé began playing for Santos at 15 in the Sao Paulo state championship. It was to be one of only two clubs he represented. By the age of 17, he was playing for Brazil in the 1958 World Cup – and winning it. Their win in Sweden was the only time an outside team has won a World Cup in Europe.
In 1975, he joined the New York Cosmos in the NASL, part of an attempt to launch a professional league in the USA. His last ever match as a professional was the 1977 Soccerbowl where he played in the Cosmos side that beat Seattle Sounders 2-1 in Portland.
Since he retired Pele has stayed in demand and campaigned for a number of causes including becoming an international ambassador for the fight against hunger. He has met Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan who said to him:
“My name is Ronald Reagan, I’m the President of the United States of America. But you don’t need to introduce yourself, because everyone knows who Pele is.”
In 2010, he received an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh for his significant contribution to humanitarian and environmental causes, as well as his sporting achievements.
Now 74, Pele is a Global Ambassador for the Subway food chain on whose behalf he is promoting healthy eating and nutrition in London this week.
Prost Amerika editor Steve Clare spoke to him by phone from his London hotel prior to him attending a media event with ex-Liverpool stars, Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman.
Prost Amerika: How does it feel to be back in England?
Pele: It’s nice to talk to you and be one more time here in England and in London. I’ve been here many times for the football.
Prost Amerika: You have taken part in many campaigns against children’s hunger and are in London to promote healthy eating through Subway. What do you see as the connection between eating and eating healthily?
Pele: The reasons it’s important, when I pick some promotion, or connect with any company will be something health related for the people. Subway is one of my partners. We work together on that. This is the main reason I am here. We came together almost two years ago. At that time, we came together to do some work in Europe. We started in England then we went to Australia and then China with Subway.
Prost Amerika: Obviously you’re a very important ambassador for them as well as many other good causes. You’ve had the title ‘the greatest player in the world’ and you still carry it, do you enjoy carrying that title?
Pele: Oh yes, I enjoy it. Of course, it’s a big responsibility because I am a normal human being like everyone. Everyone at some time has to be careful because we cannot make mistakes. But I have to thank God because since I start to play football at 17 or 18 years old at my first World Cup, I have luck that God wanted me. I just do good work and carry a good message, and now with Subway, I try to do the same; to carry a good message to people.
Prost Amerika: Did you ever wish someone else would become so great a player that they would take that title off you?
Pele: No, I have to say. I’ve met a lot of movie stars and a lot of athletes, and to answer that question; just God decides why he chose me to have this opportunity; to have friends all over the world where people respect me. I try to do my best to not disappoint people.
Prost Amerika: Regarding your playing career, one well know fact is that Brazil never lost a match where both you and Garrincha played. In your view, what did Garrincha add to your game?
Pele: We had a lot when Garrincha was with me. I was 18 or 19 and Garrincha was, I think, 7 years older than me, 24 or 25. Coincidentally, he was an excellent player. The people in England used to compare him with George Best (Manchester United and Northern Ireland). For people in England, they used to compare them because he had the same style of game as George Best.
Pele (r) wished Johan Cruyff could have played with him for Brazil
Photo: Ajax Amsterdam
I had great luck playing with Garrincha because it wasn’t easy to score some goals. He used to dribble around one or two players and it meant a lot to be in the same team. So, as you mentioned before, every game that Brazil played with Pele and Garrincha in the team, we never lost. We lost when I played alone or he played alone. But when we played together, Brazil never lost. It is a beautiful history.
Prost Amerika: Was that 1970 Brazil side, the best side to ever play international football?
Pele: 1970 you mention? No doubt. Brazil had an excellent team in 1958 with Didi, Vava and Garrincha. It was fantastic but we had, at that time, more good individual players. Also at that time we had in midfield Zito who played for Santos.
People make the mistake of confusing Zico with Zito. Zico was a forward. Zito was a midfielder who played with me and Pepe in Santos. Along with Vava, we had at that time Nilton Santos. In 58 until 1962, Brazil had excellent individual players and we won but, as a team together and also good players, there is no doubt that 1970 was the best team in my opinion. The best team. No doubt.
Prost Amerika: Did you ever play against someone so good that you wished they were Brazilian and could play for you at international level?
Pele: Interesting. I had a lot of good players (Johan) Cruyff was the one player in my time who I wished to play together with. And then Bobby Charlton and George Best. (Sandro) Mazzolo from Italy. Mazzola is a player who I admired. There were a lot of good players. Eusebio from Portugal was another excellent player. I had a lot of excellent players to play against and sometimes it was very hard.
Prost Amerika: Who was the toughest defender you played against? Was it Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Moore or maybe someone else?
Pele: I met a lot of good defenders I played against. The difference was I played all over the world. Every place I played not with my team Santos or with Brazil, always I have one player to follow me and to stay with me. Then it was not easy because I get excellent players all over the world … but I think I can mention two in the whole of my career.
I can mention Beckenbauer who used to play for Germany and Bobby Moore when we played against England.I think those two players. Different style because Beckenbauer used to play more to control the game but man to man, the best was Bobby Moore. No doubt.
Prost Amerika: Which of today’s players do you enjoy watching?
Pele: Listen. Everyone talks about the forwards, the players when they are scoring goals. But sometimes I look for the complete player not just the players who score but those who can pass. No doubt that in the last ten years for me, Messi has been the best player. He is almost total. He has good colleagues who play together with him in Barcelona who make it a little easier for him; like Xavi – another excellent player.
But as a goalscorer, in a different way of playing is Ronaldo … Cristiano Ronaldo. Cristiano Ronaldo is an excellent player of this moment. The styles of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are different.
In Part 2, we pluck up the courage to ask him about Brazil’s elimination from the 2014 World Cup where he has a little joke at our expense and ask his view of the rise of soccer in the United States.
We’ll also have some photos of the Subway event in London.
