Top 5 Things Pele Does Not Want You to Know

Brazilian football focusing on attack is a bit of a myth. They were the forst nation to play 4 at the back.

 

I know you said he wouldnt score as much as Messi or Ronaldo though yet Pele is probably the best "big game" goalscorer in the history of the game.

Like I said 29 goals in 32 games against the best other National teams when he played, 12 goals in 14 World Cup games. 7 goals in 3 games against the European Club Champions, 17 goals in 15 games against the best other South American Club teams. There would be no reason to think he wouldnt score mega amounts if he was playing today.

His record in the Taca Brazil(knockout competition to decide the Brazilian champions with the winners from all the States) is 30 goals in 33 games too.

 

The Brazilian league has not ever, ever been the best league in the world.
Scoring 50, or 60 (or even more) goals in that league, is not as big or difficult an achievement as scoring 30 in the Spanish, English or Italian leagues.

Pele is so biased to himself and Brazilians it's ridiculous. I'm sure he actually said Neymar is better than Messi as well!

Maybe he's just lost his marbles through age

 

Thats only speculation, but it shouldnt belittle Pele's achievements. When Santos played against European opposition, they invariably were the better side. And in the World Cup his exploits cant be argued.

Was part of 3 World Cup winning squads and played a significant part in 2 of them.

To say that he is overrated is ridiculous. Regardless of what he says himself or how much of a * he comes over as, his record stands up.

 

Back when Pele was playing it was definitely up there for best in the world. The players that played there were considered the best anyway.

 

i think the fact brazilian cup finals(2 legs 3rd game if scores were even after 2) in the 60's there was an average of 4.3 goals a game shows football was attacking and high scoring

 

Perhaps ot would be better to say he overrates himself.

His record is obviously very good but he makes out that its better than what it is.

 

Definitely they have always been highly skilled going forward but they're defensive play throughout the ages have been revolutionary.

 

Good point. It was certainly a more attacking sport back then.

 

im not even saying hes overrate dim just saying there is justification for people to have that opinion

 

Maradona for me but there hasn't been enough footage of Pele.

 

For the record I'm not saying it was more defensive back then. It was far more attacking.

 

even if this is the case, my point is its not prevented a highscoring attacking game that players like Pele would Thrive on

 

Man, I'm not so sure about this revisionist history.

I had thought of Maradona as the best player of all time - but at one point I decided to get in about it, and find a load of info and footage of the oldschool players - Pele, Cruyff etc - and appraise for myself.

Have to admit I ended up seriously impressed by Pele. Some of the * he pulled just left me with my mouth open. I mean Maradona was an absolutely incredible dribbler - but some of the stuff Pele came away with, Maradona wouldn't even have thought of doing. Just that leap of the imagination that separates a great technician from a genius.

The only other guy I've ever come across with that level of footballing imagination is Ronaldinho. And in Pele it was allied to being a one-man goal festival, and also to a seriously impressive achievements list.

Anyone saying auld Edson was the greatest ever wouldn't get much argument from me...

 

When Pele played in Brazil there wasn't technically a "Brazilian League" though as travelling would have been difficult/expensive in the late 50's early 60's.

A lot of his goals are in his States League but to be fair, the winner of his State did win the over all League 8 times out of 11. and lost the final of 2 of the other ones, so out of 11 only 1 time did Pele's team or the team that beat Pele's team not reach the final of the Brazilian League. His state was easily the best.

His record in the "League" competitions against the best teams in Brazil is

80 goals in 167 games. In his prime years though 1958-1970 it was 46 goals in 84 games.

So if you want to cut his record down to just against the best teams it would be

29 goals in 32 games V Best National Teams
80 goals in 167 games V Best Brazilian Clubs
7 goals in 3 games V Best European Clubs
17 goals in 15 games V Best South American Clubs

TOTAL

133 goals in 217 games

However Pele's State Championship was by far the best in Brazil that contained Palmeiras, Corinthians and Sao Paulo. Pele finished the top scorer in that 11 years in a row.

 

4 great teams out of 20 isnt wonderful though, it may have been the best State, but the Majority of the teams were of a much poorer standard, the fact that from 1958 to 1970 only these 3 teams competed with Santos, with the exception of Portuguesa one year, confirms this

 

But its not as if thats all he did. He pumped 2 past Milan in Italy, the European Champions who steamrolled the European Cup conceding only 6 goals(They scored 34!!!), Santos put 6 past them in 2 games(Pele only played 1). They year before he put 5 past Benfica in 2 games. Benfica were no mugs, they pumped Real Madrid(Gento, Puskas, Di Stefano et al 5-3 in the European Cup final).

 

messi is still superior, i'd have cristiano before pele aswell now tbh

 

Whether he's the best ever or not, the guy is an absolute *.

 

It's funny, I always used to argue with people who said Pelé was better than Maradona. This sums it up haha, the mention of Garrincha is interesting as well. I always thought he was the best Brazilian player of all time, or one of them anyway. His biography is absoltuely mental, definitely worth a read haha. I don't like Pelé's arrogance anyway, he does seem to be a bit of a *.