Part 2: Pele growing up

Part 2: Pele Growing Up

Summary: Pele played soccer all through his childhood and when he was fifteen, a representative from Rio de Janeiro came to Bauru to ask Pele to play for their club. Pele and his father moved to Santos where he started playing for the Santos club. He was very homesick while staying there and considered going home many times. Pele did very well on the junior team and began playing at the professional level. Not long after Pele was chosen to play for the Brazilian national team when he was 16. At the age of 17 Pele was playing on the Brazilian World Cup Team. He scored a hat-trick in the semi-final game and two goals in the World Cup Championship game. Pele was a National icon after helping the Brazilian team win the World Cup. From that day on, Pele's life changed in a way that he could never have imagined it would.


Pele Celebrates scoring in the World Cup

Review: The more that I read this book, the more and more it has inspired me to understand the incredible journey one man took from being a poor teenager with a talent, into the worlds best soccer player in the world. It is incredible to discover that a 17 year old played in the World Cup and was one of the biggest contributions to the Brazilian team. Despite how young Pele was, he outplayed and outsmarted many English and French full grown men who had been playing soccer at a professional level for many years. This biography of Pele is one of the most inspiring and motivating books about soccer that has been written. Learning about Pele's childhood and how he turned his life around from having no money, to having so much that he didn't know what to do with all of his income in unbelievable. It is impossible to stop reading this book once you start.

 Pele holds his World Cup trophy: 1962

Focus:
The focus for this week is on the Author. These are some things about the way the author writes the book and how he feels about the book.

The author James seems very enthusiastic when talking about Pele's life. James wrote the book because he is in love with the way Pele grew up and turned into a world icon. The way he writes makes the tone of the book exciting for the reader. Creates an inspiring mood that the reader can relate to: "He was only 17 and had scored a hat-trick in the World Cup Semifinals!" James does a marvelous job at drawing the readers attention to significant parts of Pele's life.

Sources: This is a link to a website about Pele's debut in professional soccer. Another link that is helpful to learn about the records and achievements that Pele set is his making of history.





Part 3: 
Summary: After Pele helped the Brazilian team win the World Cup much celebrating took place. Once back home and training again, Pele went on many soccer expeditions with Santos playing the top teams in all of Europe. The club had matches with the highest ranked teams and in the majority of them, Pele's team ended up being victorious. Pele was the top scorer in the league at the time with nearly averaging two goals a game. The years leading up to 1962 were very busy for Pele, and as well as the year itself which was the year of the World Cup. During a pre-tournament friendly match Pele suffered an injury of pulling his groin. He played through it in Brazil's first Cup game but in the second, he re-injured it to the point that he could barely walk. This injury would be the only thing keeping him from playing in that World Cup. Pele had to watch his team from the sidelines as they won their second straight world cup after defeating Czechoslovakia 3-1 in the final. 

The Groin is one of the most important muscles

 for soccer players

Brazil defeated Czechoslovakia in the final: this is the Czech flag

 Review:
Pele's love for soccer was unconditional. He always wanted to play the sport whenever he got the opportunity to do so. Reading about how Pele trained and tried to fight through his injury in order to be able to play in his second World Cup is very inspiring. He kept playing with a torn groin until he injured it even more and could hardly walk. It is truly amazing to fully understand how much Pele liked the sport. He would sacrifice his own health in order to be out on the field getting playing time. The book does a great job of showing how widely respected Pele was. Yet this soon changed in the years that followed as teams began fouling Pele extremely bad whenever he got the ball in order to keep him from scoring. James Buckley does an outstanding job at keeping the readers attention as he writes about each suspenseful moment in Pele's soccer career.                              
                                          
                                              Pele was fouled severely in one of his games.

                                      
                                                   He was extremely respectful to other players


Focus: What things allowed Pelé to be as successful as he was?
Pele's extreme love and passion for the sport helped him become one of the world's best soccer stars. He had a desire to play the sport at a level that no one else could play at. No matter what happened in a game Pele would not give up. Even when his groin was torn, he had to finish the rest of the game because no one else could be subbed in for him. All of his hard work and training also allowed him to be the successful champion that he became.

Sources:
Pele's amazing talent was too developed for other players to defend him, this video shows how he was so good that the only way to stop him was to foul him in extremely cheap ways. Another website can show the vast amounts of accomplishments that were achieved by Pele.

Post 6:   
Pele's biography has been the most entertaining and inspirational book that I have ever read. As an athlete who plays soccer, learning about how amazingly talented Pele was has made me understand that pure love for a sport, and the drive to want to win can take you a long way. James Buckley did a great job at showing the unbelievable accomplishments that Pele achieved. The book has the incredible ability to expand your view upon the sport if you like soccer. I strongly suggest this book to anyone who is a sports fan in general because it shows how a player with a strong love for the sport they play, plus the talent such that Pele had, can change the history of a sport forever. In general I did not enjoy blogging very much at all.

Pele's Amazing Talent. Start at 2:30

Five interesting Facts:

1. Pele played in the World Cup in 1958 when he was only 17 years old.
2. Pele scored a hat-trick in the semi-finals of the 1958 World Cup and two goals in the Final.
3. Pele was the third person to score 1000 goals at the professional level of soccer.
4. Pele played in four World Cups total.
5. He is the only person to ever win three World Cups.

Teammate Carlos Alberto holds the trophy high.

Part 5: Champions
Summary:
After the 1966 World Cup, Pele vowed that he would never play in a World Cup again. After having a baby with Rosemari in 1967 Pele rediscovered his true love and passion for the game. In 1969 Pele achieved an amazing record; he had scored his 1,000th goal and was one of three people to do so at the time. After that goal, media swirled around him and began to wonder what Pele would do as 1970 approached. Pele slowly changed his mind and chose that he would play in the 1970 World Cup. It was Pele's fourth World Cup appearance. He was the first person in the to ever play in four World Cups. Brazil defeated Czechoslovakia 4-1 in which Pele almost scored a shot from 65 yards out. They went on to beat four more incredibly skilled teams. Their semi-final game was played against Uruguay, who Brazil had lost in the World Cup final to 20 years ago at their home stadium. All of Brazil was looking forward to them avenging the loss. Brazil took a 3-1 victory in the game and the loss 20 years ago was merely forgotten. Italy played Brazil in the final, it was one of, if not, the best game that Pele had played in his career. Brazil won the match 4-1 and became the first team to ever win three World Cups.

After the final, everyone celebrated Pele's last World Cup game.

Review:
This novel has been extremely attention drawing and eye opening the entire time that I read it. Pele was the first player to understand the game of soccer fully. He saw how it could be improved to be played at the highest level possible at the time. He did things that people had never done before in soccer. While playing, he put on a show for the crowds in the stadiums. His outstanding moves and jaw-dropping talent made spectators go wild when they watched, and eventually the same for the millions of people watching the Brazilian teams game's on TV. James Buckley wrote the biography in a way that entertains the reader and made me want to be a spectator of Pele's amazing play. His remarkable style will never be forgotten, and is very thoroughly examined in this book.

Pele celebrates after scoring his last

 goal in the World Cup Final

Pele jumps into Rivelino's arms to celebrate his goal

Focus:  What things will Pele be most remembered for?
Pele was a pioneer in the discovering of the true beauty of soccer. He used his skills and amazing knowledge to apply a type of soccer that had never been played the same way in the past. Pele, participating in four World Cups and winning three of them, will always be remembered for setting the records he set. Being the leading scorer of his time, he created some of the best goals ever made in the game of soccer. His positive attitude toward other players was especially unique. Pele never committed cheap fouls or attempted to hurt other players. Pele will forever be remembered as one of the most respected and respectful soccer players to ever walk foot upon the earth.

Compilation of Brazils 1970 World Cup final goals/play. 

Sources: Here are a couple of links, one regarding the Brazilian World Cup teams history. Another about Pele's last appearance in a World Cup, the final game against Italy.

Part 4:
Summary: After Brazil won their second World Cup in a row, Pele went back home and recovered from his leg injury. Pele being so young and growing up with not a lot of money, didn't know what to do with all of the money he was making from playing. He gave permission to Pepe Gordo to manage his money. Pepe invested all of it into businesses which all lost money and went out of business. In need of money, Santos lent Pele money in order to pay for his wedding with Rosemari. After traveling Europe for their honeymoon the Brazilian team gathered again to attempt the impossible: win 3 World Cups in a row. Pele wasn't happy with the 1966 team from the start. He felt that the coaches didn't choose players that fit well together. Before the World Cup they split up the team into groups in pre-tournament play instead of keeping the main 22 players together. The Brazilian team lost their key unity of playing together which is extremely necessary for a soccer team to be successful at such a level. After winning their first game 2-0 against Bulgaria, Pele was not happy with how the team played. To make things even worse, now all players defending Pele simply resorted to fouling him relentlessly whenever he got the ball. In their third game against Portugal, Pele was literally mauled on the field. Brazil lost the game 3-1 and was out of the World Cup.

Players did cleats up tackles like these in order to stop Pele

Defenders would do anything to try and stop the Brazilian team

 


Review:
Discovering how Pele's amazing talent had become a reason for players to attempt to hurt him is mind blowing. It is extrememly horrible, the things that players did to him since he was so good that the only way they could keep him from scoring was to foul him. James Buckley thoroughly describes the hardships Pele is faced with, since he was being restricted from playing the same flowing soccer Brazil was so used to playing. It's very motivating to read how Pele fought through all of those problems and continued to get better and succeed.

Pele celebrates after scoring well fought for goal.

Injurys are one of the worst parts of soccer.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                                                                         

Focus:  How did other players react to Pele being such an amazing soccer athlete?
After two successful World Cup Championships, Brazil was noted by other teams as a main target. More specifically than the Brazilian team itself, Pele was now being targeted by any team they played. In Brazil's third attempt at winning the World Cup, their games turned into chippy soccer that was full of cheap fouls in order to stop the Brazilians. The teams had no way to stop Pele by playing by the rules, so they had to resort to fouling him whenever the ball came to him. After being eliminated from the World Cup Pele said, "I am not sad at defeat, only that I have not been allowed to play soccer. Ideal soccer has become impossible"(63). This shows the frustration he was faced with of not being able to play the true game of soccer the way it was meant to be played.

Sources: Here is a link to Pele's 1000th goal. Another link will lead you to a website containing all kinds of information about Pele's unique style of play.

Part 1: Pelé's Childhood

Summary
Pele grew up in the streets of Brazil. His family struggled with the constant worry about money and the problems it caused in their household. Pelé Didn't own a pair of shoes until he was seven years old, and didn't play with a real soccer ball until he was 10. Until he was ten, Pele played with socks stuffed with newspaper and rags as a soccer ball with his friends. Pele's talent in playing soccer was natural for him and he was extremely passionate and loved playing the sport. His father played competitively and was moving up the ladder of Brazilian soccer clubs. A knee injury soon caused him to never be able to play soccer at the same level again.

Pele celebrating his goals

An old homemade soccer ball

                       




Review:
 I really enjoy reading this book so far! Reading about the ways that Pele grew up playing soccer without real soccer gear or even shoes is amazing. It is stunning to discover how a man who grew up in a poor household could end up chasing his dream and eventually becoming one of the world's best soccer players. It really goes to show that you do not need to be wealthy in order to succeed in life. With the talent and motivation to reach his goals, Pele made a dream into a reality. James Buckley does a great job at describing the lifestyle that Pele grew up in. The way he writes about the journey from playing in the dirt covered streets of Brazil, to playing on the Brazilian World Cup team when he was only 17 is brilliant. Each page invites you more and more into the steps that Pele took as a young athlete toward making a run at a professional soccer playing career.

Pele in his first World Cup

 Focus:
This weeks reading focus was on "questions."  

How did Pele make it to the Professional level of soccer?  Was his trip to fame hard, or well earned? Will he be chosen to take part on the Brazilian World Cup team? How was Pele discovered and what club did he play for as a teenager?  

Sources:
Here's a link to Pele's wikipedia page. And another to Pele's First World Cup. Both are very interesting and show just how great of a contribution Pele was on the teams he played for.