{"id":1790476,"date":"2022-12-30T09:09:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T14:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1790476"},"modified":"2022-12-30T09:20:41","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T14:20:41","slug":"soccer-legend-pele-dead-at-82-after-health-battles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/soccer-legend-pele-dead-at-82-after-health-battles\/","title":{"rendered":"Soccer Legend Pel\u00e9 Dead at 82 After Health Battles"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsoccer-legend-pele-dead-at-82-after-health-battles%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1790476&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\"><\/aside>\n<p>Edson Arantes Do Nascimento recalled exactly the moment he saw his father weep. It was 1950 and Brazil, appearing in soccer\u2019s World Cup for the first time, had just been beaten by Uruguay in the final.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy father was crying with a lot of Brazilians,\u201d the man better known as Pel\u00e9 remembered. \u201cMy father used to say, men should be strong. Men doesn\u2019t cry. My father was crying when Brazil lost the match.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen I told him, \u2018Father, don\u2019t worry. I\u2019m going to win a World Cup for you.\u2019 \u2026 [Six] years later, I was in Sweden with Brazil and Brazil won the World Cup. I was 17 years old. That was a gift from God. I don\u2019t know why I said it, why I promised it to my father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pel\u00e9 , the Brazilian soccer star who led his country\u2019s national team to a that World Cup victory in 1956 and who, in the 1960s and 70s, rivaled Muhammad Ali as the world\u2019s most popular and recognizable athlete, died Thursday at a Sao Paulo hospital. He was 82 years old and had been suffering from cancer for several years. The hospital released a statement saying that he died of complications. \u201ckidney and cardiac dysfunctions.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/GettyImages-900481092.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-25130953\" style=\"display: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/GettyImages-900481092.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/GettyImages-900481092.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/GettyImages-900481092.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/GettyImages-900481092.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/GettyImages-900481092.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" alt=\"Pel\u00e9\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/a><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Pel\u00e9, whose presence for a 1969 exhibition match in Nigeria led to a two-day cease-fire in that country\u2019s bitter civil war so that both sides could see him play, became the only player to win three World Cups when Brazil was again victorious in 1962 and 1970, more than making good on his naive and youthful promise to his father.<\/p>\n<div class=\"single__inline-module inline-module inline-module--newsletter alignright\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<h3 class=\"inline-module__title headline headline--combo-sm-md\">Follow the most recent sports news<\/h3>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">Register for the Starting Lineup to be part of the most exciting stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pel\u00e9 starred for the Santos club in his homeland and, during his career, resisted numerous offers to play in Europe, citing his loyalty to Brazil. After playing his last game with Santos in 1974, he had intended to retire. He was in deep debt, and he signed a $7 million contract at 35 to play the last three seasons of his professional soccer career with the New York Cosmos.<\/p>\n<p>With Pel\u00e9 as their featured attraction, the Cosmos routinely filled 80,000-seat Giants Stadium to near capacity and league-wide his presence helped boost average attendance by almost 80 percent between 1975 (7,597) and 1977 (13,584).<\/p>\n<p>By force of his skill and personality, Pel\u00e9 is credited with igniting the slow but steady growth of soccer \u2014 \u201cthe beautiful game,\u201d as he called it \u2014 in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt really was ludicrous to think that Pel\u00e9, the greatest player of all, was going to end up playing for this ridiculous little team in New York drawing 1,500 people,\u201d Clive Toye is the Cosmos general manger. \u201cBut I told him don\u2019t go to Italy, don\u2019t go to Spain, all you can do is win a championship. Come to the U.S. and you can win a country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Edson Arantes did Nascimento, born to Dondinho &amp; Dona Celeste on October 23, 1940 in Tres Coracoes (southeastern Brazil). Edson was the son of a soccer player. His father was also a local soccer player. Young Edson started playing futbol with a handful of newspaper folded inside a sock.<\/p>\n<p>Soon he was better at the game than all the other neighborhood kids and they gave him the nickname Pel\u00e9 after the youngster butchered the name Bile, the goalkeeper on Brazil\u2019s Vasco da Gama team and his favorite player. At first, Pele didn\u2019t like his nickname, but it stuck.<\/p>\n<p>Pele had already made a name of himself at the Bauru Athletic Club. Valdemar De Brito, a former World Cup participant, noticed him and brought him into the Santos club team. In his first full season, Pel\u00e9 scored a league-leading 32 goals and it wasn\u2019t long before he was selected for Brazil\u2019s 1958 World Cup. He was 17 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Pel\u00e9 missed the first two games of the tournament in Sweden with a knee injury, but returned to score the game-winning goal in the quarterfinals. He added a hat trick in the semifinals and two goals in Brazil\u2019s 5-2 final victory over the host team.<\/p>\n<p>The prodigy\u2019s heroics coincided with the first international telecast of the World Cup. Pel\u00e9, the nickname he originally didn\u2019t like, became a household name around the globe.<\/p>\n<p>Brazil would win the World Cup again in 1962 and, after the defending champions suffered a devastating loss during group play and were eliminated during the 1966 World Cup in England, Pel\u00e9, although still in his prime, announced that he had played in his last World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was really torn,\u201d Pel\u00e9 said in a 2021 documentary. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to play in the \u201970 World Cup. I didn\u2019t want to repeat what happened in England.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That stance didn\u2019t sit well with his countrymen nor with Brazil\u2019s president Emilio Medici and word made its way to Pel\u00e9 that he might want to reconsider. It had been in turmoil for years. The ruthless Medici was one of a number of despots that ruled Brazil between 1964 and 1978. He was known to torture and imprison anyone who dared to cross him. It would be better for all if Pele put on his boots once more for the motherland.<\/p>\n<p>Pel\u00e9, who considered himself neutral politically, had already received criticism for an earlier meeting with Medici.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think I could have done anything different,\u201d In the documentary, he stated that. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t possible. \u2026 I\u2019m Brazilian. I want the best for my country. I\u2019m not Superman. I don\u2019t work miracles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was just a normal person who was granted the gift of being a futbol player. But I am absolutely certain that I have done much more for Brazil through futbol in my own way than many politicians who are paid to do so have done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So Pel\u00e9, then 29, played in 1970 in Mexico and Brazil defeated Italy, 4-1, in the final with Pel\u00e9 scoring the game\u2019s first goal.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe 1970 World Cup was the best moment of my life, but I think it was more important for the nation,\u201d He stated. \u201cBecause if Brazil had lost in Mexico things would have gotten a lot worse. Brazil\u2019s victory gave the whole country a moment to breathe. The 1970 World Cup was for the nation, not for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pel\u00e9 would sign with the Cosmos in 1975, bringing a measure of credibility to the 7-year-old league. He was the highest-paid athlete on a team in the world at the time. His decision to play again in the U.S. after a year of retirement from soccer upset his countrymen. He had been ardent about not playing again and had missed the 1974 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>He retired \u2014 this time for good \u2014 after leading the Cosmos to the 1977 NASL championship although he did return for an exhibition match later that year versus Santos, his old club team. Pel\u00e9 played the first half of that game for the Cosmos and the second half for Santos. His career ended with 1,283 goals and 1,367 games.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><\/figure>\n<p>Pel\u00e9, who once held the title of Brazil\u2019s minister of sport, spent many of his years following his retirement serving as an ambassador for the game he loved, his worldwide fame continuing long after he had played his last game.<\/p>\n<p>A reporter once asked Pel\u00e9 if his fame compared to that of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are parts of the world where Jesus Christ is not so well known,\u201d He stated.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Edson Arantes Do Nascimento recalled exactly the moment he saw his father weep. It was 1950 and Brazil, appearing in soccer\u2019s World Cup for the first time, had just been beaten by Uruguay in the final. \u201cMy father was crying with a lot of Brazilians,\u201d the man better known as Pel\u00e9 remembered. \u201cMy father &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1898365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Soccer Legend Pel\u00e9 Dead at 82 After Health Battles","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[7235,5458,3642,4964,9610,12420,3819,7478],"class_list":["post-1790476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-battles","tag-bongino","tag-dead","tag-health","tag-legend","tag-pele","tag-report","tag-soccer"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Soccer Legend Pel\u00e9 Dead at 82 After Health Battles","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1790476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1898365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1790476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1790476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1790476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}