Opinion – Walter Casagrande Jr.: The ball itself was most enchanted by Pelé’s genius

What would football be like if Pelé had not existed?

It would be a boring game without his genius.

How would the ball know how to roll on the pitch if Pelé hadn’t taught it everything?

I see football through the first image that my affective memory holds of this sport, which was in the 1970 World Cup.

I come from a super Corinthian family. So, what I listened to the most at home was Corinthians, Rivellino and, obviously, Santos do Pelé.

But to actually see it, I only went to see it through the images that arrived from the city of Guadalajara, during the Mexico Cup.

The art of noticing the goalkeeper in advance and hitting the goal was Pelé who saw it for the first time.

On that play, the ball went like this: “Wow, they never did that to me”.

The Cup went on, and many great things happened, always with the participation of the King.

In that fantastic play that culminated in that fabulous header, with a spectacular save by goalkeeper Banks, from England, the ball left the bottom line finding itself, because it had never participated in a play like that.

I remember the two plays he made against Uruguay.

In the first, goalkeeper Mazurkiewicz hit the goal with the ball at half height in the direction of Pelé, who didn’t think twice and hit back, in an unexpected and never seen move. At that time, the ball thought: “I like this guy”.

Shortly thereafter, he made one of the greatest moves of all time in World Cups.

Tostão played for him as the Uruguayan goalkeeper left, and Pelé left the ball, turned it around, and already unbalanced, crossed the ball. The ball skimmed past.

In that sequence, not only did the ball go limp, but also the two teams and the whole stadium, which gave a standing ovation, because they had never seen this move before.

Pelé was the great teacher of the ball. He was the one who prepared her for all the genius performances that the great players who would come after him would deliver.

Everything Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi did with the ball came as no surprise to her, because she had already done all that, and much more, at Pelé’s feet.

Before him, football was just a sport. It became art after him.

I had the pleasure of seeing him twice at the Pacaembu stadium.

The first time was in a Corinthians x Santos, which ended in 1 x 1, with a great free kick from the King to Santos. The tie came at 46 of the second half, from Reizinho do Parque to Corinthians.

Two number 10 shirts, a piece that became synonymous with ace after Pelé wore it.

The second time was in 1973, in the 3-2 comeback victory against Portuguesa, and he scored twice, but the second is considered one of the most beautiful in Pelé’s history.

Clodoaldo’s cross on his chest, which gave a “Pelé” kill and turned at an angle. Fantastic!

He was the greatest player of all time, athlete of the century, and his name became a reference of superlative praise.

When someone is above average in anything, they say the person is “a Pelé” of that.

The award for the best player in the world each season should be called the Pelé Trophy.

Well, I say goodbye to the readers who accompanied me in this space. As I said in the last column, this is my last edit here. It was a pleasure hitting that ball with you.

I wish everyone a happy New Year, with support for Brazil to start a promising rescue of social, environmental, educational and cultural values ​​from this 1st day of 2023.

Kisses and see you soon.