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.