The video about Pelé really helped to open my eyes and show me how much of an impact Pelé had on the World Cup success Brazil had. I have always viewed soccer as a team sport and believed that since there are eleven players on the pitch, it is hard for one specific player to stick out and be the heart of the team.
But when I saw some of the video clips of Pelé playing on the international stage, I realized that it was possible for one player to completely take over the game. The clips of a 17-year-old Pelé scoring a hat trick to help beat Sweden in the World Cup final on Swedish soil are extremely impressive, and they speak to his composure and ability to live up to big moments. When Pelé was on the pitch, he was usually the best player on it, but he had some trouble staying on during the 1962 and 1966 World Cups in Chile and england respectively. He was injured before the final in the 1962 World Cup, but his Brazilian teammates were able to power through without him, leading to their back to back world cup wins.
The 1966 World Cup in England was rather controversial as Portugal was attempting some rough tackles against Pelé, which eventually led to him having to come off the pitch, which would lead to the Brazilians losing three to one against Portugal. In fact, the treatment of Pelé was so bad at the 1966 World Cup that he actually vowed he would never play in a World Cup again. Thankfully, Pelé decided that he would give the World Cup another shot, and he played in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, where he did well, scoring four goals and assisting his teammates with a multitude of other goals. Pelé helped to deliver a header goal and an assist in the world cup final game against italy and his contributions helped lead Brazil to a four to one victory over Italy and Pelé’s third World Cup, which then subsequently put an end to his World Cup career.
Brian Phillips article Diamond in the Rough ” discusses new technology that has been created that could create diamonds out of things like human ashes and hair. He then goes on to describe the 1,283 gemstones that were created out of Pelé’s hair that signify every goal he scored throughout his career. Pelé is attempting to sell each of these gemstones for $7500, and the proceeds will be donated to the pediatric complex of Brazil. This seems to be a noble thing for Pelé to do, and I do think it’s awesome for him to donate the money he earns to the pediatric complex, but Phillips argues that this sort of grand act of making his hair into diamonds shows the disconnect between Pelé and the modern Brazilian society.
Phillips looks into the argument that Pelé makes about the huge wealth disparity between rich and poor in Brazil and how Pelé believes that people should not protest things like the building of new stadiums for the World Cup when hundreds of thousands of Brazilians live in extreme poverty with no real help from the government and with no real social services being provided. Pelé has long navigated being a living god and being a corporate shill who will put his name on anything for a check.
I personally don’t hate Pelé for doing this, as I see him alot like Shaq, who is using his likeness to make as much money as they can, and they earned that through their hard work in sports and their hard work in showing their personalities to the world. Phillips frames Pelé as a star who went out of touch with people when he got money and I can kind of see that with some of his opinions on people protesting the 2014 world cup but I also think he has made his way out of poverty and built something from nothing so he can have his views on the protests and can market himselff however he wants. And I don’t think we should fault someone for wanting to donate money to the pediatric complex, even if it is through something weird like diamonds made out of Pelé’s hair; the money is still going to a good cause.
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