Opinion – PVC: Tactical Pelé

Pelé was a striker, a position whose name fell into disuse almost forty years ago. More than that, it was everything, as indicated by the dialogue published by Armando Nogueira with Pelé, sometimes attributed to Nelson Rodrigues, after América 3 x 5 Santos, in February 1958:

“Who is the best striker in Brazil?

“Me,” he replied matter-of-factly.

— And the best left midfielder?

— Me too — by the way with a smile.

I left the Maracanã without really knowing if I had just met a cocky brat or a chosen one from heaven.

As we were in the year 1957, the reader has already noticed that my doubt did not last long. The boy in the locker room would win, with Brazil, the following year, the World Cup in Sweden”, wrote Armando.

He dates the conversation a year before the match against América actually took place. It doesn’t matter. Pelé was the greatest long before he was and will continue to be long after he was.

The mystique of the number 10 is strengthened with him, at the forefront. I mean, the left midfielder who approaches the center forward, the same role, in other generations, as Zico, with Flamengo’s 10, Palhinha, with Corinthians’ 10, Tostão, with Cruzeiro’s 8.

Tostão’s number is detailed here to understand that there were, in Brazil, two ways of numbering shirts. The numbering started in the 1933 FA Cup final, won by Everton against Manchester City.

As the 1950 World Cup approached, the CBD (Brazilian Sports Confederation) forced teams to number their shirts from 1948 onwards, when Flávio Costa was coach of the national team and defined his system as Diagonal, a kind of crooked WM.

In Europe, with the WM (2-3-5), the goalkeeper and the two defenders were numbered 1, 2 and 3. The midline with 4, 5 and 6. Flávio Costa pulled one of the two midfielders to the line of defense, or the 4 on the right, or the 6 on the left. When the number 6 was chosen, the defense started with the right-back number 2 and the diagonal took place with 8 more advanced compared to the number 10.

Zizinho attacked a little more than Jair, in the 1950 selection.

At Santos, traditionally, the number 4 retreated and, over the years, became the right-back. It was like that with Biguá, number 4 for Flamengo — Júnior occupied the red-black right wing wearing shirt number 4 in 1974.

Over the years this logic has changed, but it explains why Palmeiras had right-back Eurico, with 2, and striker Leivinha, with 8 —Ademir da Guia was the midfielder, 10. while Santos had Lima, right-back 4 and Pelé, a more offensive midfielder than Mengálvio or Jair Rosa Pinto, scoring 10.

The King debuted in the national team with the 13, coming on in the second half against Argentina, in 1957. Three days later, he made his first start with the 8. Luizinho, from Corinthians, wore the mantle that would become sacred with Pelé.

“The number 14 shirt has symbolism in Holland, but not like the number 10 in Brazil”, says journalist Tiemen van der Laan, editor of Voetbal International magazine, in Amsterdam.

Cruyff wore the number 9 in Barcelona and only played a World Cup with the number 14. Maradona, Messi and Mbappé did not give up the sacred number as soon as they had a chance to put it on their backs. The exception is England, where Cristiano Ronaldo’s 7 is inherited from Stanley Matthews.

The British had their queen. Football will always have its King.

Gerson in Fla

Flamengo has not stopped hiring and brings Gerson back to work with Vítor Pereira. It is clear that the Portuguese coach finds it easier to execute his pressure style, in the red-negro, than he could do in Corinthians. But it is he, the coach, who has to answer that in his presentation in Gávea.

Academy Cubs

Unlike the red-black team, Palmeiras is betting on Garcia, Vanderlan, Naves and Giovani, in addition to Endrick, to maintain its strength in 2023. The idea is that the team can be as competitive by joining those who were born in the Academy to the twice-champion squad of Libertadores and Brazilian champion in 2022.