Pele
Edson Arantes do Nascimento: was your name shortened to Pele to save time signing autographs?
David Blackburn, via e-mail
No, no – although if I had to write my whole name it would take a day. Pele’s been my nickname since I was at school in Sao Paolo, I don’t know why. The kids just started to call me it and I got mad at them, I fought with them. I was five years old and I was frustrated. I didn’t understand why they called me Pele. I’d say, “My name is Edson” – my father gave me the name because of [prolific American inventor] Thomas Edison who was a big name at the time. So I fought with the kids and I think that’s why it stayed because then they all called me it to annoy me: “Hey Pele! Pele!” [Laughs] But now I think it was good because it’s an easy name – four letters – and the whole world came to know it. I think it was God who came up with it.
Do you remember your first World Cup in 1958? Could you take in what it meant?
Sunita Davies, via e-mail
I was 17 years old, but I remember it very, very well, first because I had a good World Cup, but also because it was the first time I’d travelled outside of Brazil. I remember that after the final, I was so excited because I’d played and Brazil had won and I desperately wanted to tell my family. I wanted to call them to find out if they knew about the game because at that time it was only on the radio. So I said to the newspaper and radio men, “Where can I find a telephone? I want to call my father.” But they didn’t have a telephone so I had to wait until the next day to call them. I remember saying “Hello! Champions, we’re champions!” and all the other players were in a line waiting to call home. Today if a guy scores a goal, he runs to the camera and says, “Mummy, I scored a goal!” but back then it was very, very different.
What went through your mind when Gordon Banks pulled off the greatest save of all time from your header against England?
Michael Abrahams, London
It’s amazing because it was 35 years ago, but people ask me about that save all the time – not just in England, but all over the world. You know, I scored a lot of goals in that World Cup but people don’t remember them. Sometimes I watch TV and before games they show this save. I say, “Why don’t they show the goals?” [Laughs] But the other way of looking at it is that if it had been a goal, people would probably have forgotten by now. I thought it was a goal. I don’t know if you’ve seen, but there’s one take on TV where you can see that I started to jump, to say “Gol”… then I say, “Oh…” It was a fantastic save and it shows that sometimes it’s not just goals that people remember.
If you were that good, why, when you’d sold that outrageous dummy to the Uruguay goalkeeper in that World Cup game, could you not roll the ball into the empty net? I could have, and I'm rubbish...
Nick Parkin, Coventry
Well, I’m sorry Nick, but I thought the ball was inside the post – it was very close [laughs]. The dummy was a moment, just something you do. You can’t plan it, it happens, it’s a reaction. But I really don’t know why I missed. When I went round the keeper, I thought, OK I’m going to put the ball in before the defender, to the right of the defender, but then I saw he was going very quickly and I thought, I’d better be quick before him and maybe I rushed it.
Do you ever regret not moving to Europe? Did you get any offers?
Liam Pickering, Birmingham
I had a lot of offers to come to Europe, but I was OK at Santos. The difference in those days was that the money they offered was not so big that you couldn’t refuse it. Later in my career, Real Madrid made an excellent offer and [Giovanni] Agnelli from Juventus wanted to give me a share of Fiat in return for me signing – Fiat had opened a plant in Brazil and they wanted to use me to promote it. By then, three or four players had gone to Europe – like Altafini [from Palmeiras to Milan] and Julinho Botelho [from Palmeiras to Fiorentina], then later on Didi and Vava – but life was perfect at Santos. It’s funny because I tease the Brazilian players now. I see them kissing the badge on their shirt and they say, “I love Manchester, I love it.” Then the next year, they move and they say, “I love Roma, I love it.” They don’t love the club, they love the money, that’s why they moved.
You scored 1,000 goals! Do you have a favourite?
Gary Johnson, via e-mail
Maybe the 1,000th goal. Some people say, why didn’t you score the 1,000th goal with a bicycle kick or with a header like the one against Italy [in the 1970 World Cup final] instead of with a penalty, but I think it must have been God who decided. He must have said, “OK, let’s stop the game and make sure everybody is watching” because if it had been a bicycle kick or from open play, some guy would have been talking or eating his popcorn and he would have missed it, but with a penalty kick, everybody was watching. I was there in the Maracana with 125,000 people and everybody started shouting, “Pele, Pele”. My legs were shaking. When you have to take a penalty in the World Cup or in a big game, it becomes very, very difficult. The goalkeeper becomes bigger, the goal looks smaller. It was a big responsibility. I couldn’t miss that penalty.
You once said an African team would win the World Cup by the year 2000. How much closer are African nations to breaking South America and Europe's stranglehold? And do you think Asian teams have an even better chance of future success?
Tim Crooks, via e-mail
I never said that, the newspaper said that. I said that Africa produced a lot of good players and that as they went to Europe and learned more, they would get stronger. I said the African teams were already talented, and that they could have a chance. I said Africa has the potential, but I didn’t say they were going to win. I still believe that the African teams are closer than the Asian teams, and the USA is at the same level. At the last World Cup, they did very well. In Korea, if they’d beaten Germany they would have got to the semi-final, and they were unlucky to lose. The advantage they have over Africa is that they are very well organised off the pitch. In Africa, the domestic leagues are not strong and they are not organised, but the teams are always good. Nigeria has an excellent national team, but they don’t win.
Motorsport News voted the moment when you didn’t wave the chequered flag at the 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix winner Michael Schumacher the 27th most embarrassing motorsport moment ever. What happened?
Tim Redmayne, Teddington
[Giggling throughout his answer] The director of the track said to me, “Listen, when the car is approaching, 800 metres away, I’m going to touch you, so just relax, you don’t have to worry.” So the end of the race came, and I saw Schumacher and his brother appear but the director hadn’t touched me. It was getting late so I got ready to wave the flag, but just before I waved it, he touched me. I looked at him to say, “What?” and when I looked back, Schumacher had passed. I said, “Why are you touching me now? You were supposed to touch me before.” He said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Then I put the flag up. People tease me, but when I waved the flag, he had only just passed. It was between first and second.
Who do you rate as the best player in the world right now? I have you down as a Ronaldinho man…
Tom Ireland, Manchester
I don’t like to say who is the best right now because then the newspapers say, “Pele says ‘X’ is the best in the world”, and it puts so much pressure on that player. The best players are the ones who show consistency over many years. That’s why for me Zidane has been the best player of the last 10 years. Ronaldinho is a good player, he has some nice skills and he’s playing well, but let’s see if he can keep it up. Let’s see how he plays in three or four or five years’ time.
Which one moment from your whole career gave you most satisfaction?
Sally Evans, via e-mail
I’ve been lucky to have so many good moments, but I can tell you there are two moments that stand out above everything else. My first World Cup, when I was so young, was like a dream for me. And the last World Cup, 1970, when I was already an experienced player. At that time, all of Brazil had problems, we had an armed problem [the country was under military rule] and there was enormous pressure on us to win that World Cup. But God gave me the strength and we won the World Cup. Those two moments were very different – the one when everything was a party, the other where I had all the responsibility – but these were the two greatest moments of my life.