Pele: A Legend Remembered

Former Brazil player Pele died yesterday at the age of 82 after a long battle with cancer.

This is what I think of the Brazil legend.

Pele was seen as one of if not the greatest player of al time due to his ability to score goals and he scored a hatful of them right throughout his career. He scored 2181 goals throughout his career including 77 for his country. He performed a number of silky skills whenever he was out there on the pitch and he also had the ability to beat players with ease and pace. But the goals will be what he'll be best remembered for.

He became the youngest player to win and score at a World Cup in 1958 at the age of 17 where he also became the first teenager to score in a World Cup final. Brazil beat Sweden in the final that year and Pele later won the best young player award. This was set to be the start of an incredible career.

He won another World Cup in 1962 where he scored an incredible goal against Mexico. He scored that goal by getting past a number of Mexico players with pace and ease. That was arguably the greatest goal he ever scored. But he sadly missed the rest of the tournament through injury and had to watch his side beat Italy in the final on penalties to defend their crown.

In 1970 he became the first player to win 3 World Cup's where Brazil beat Italy 4-1 in the final and he was a crucial part of their success. He scored 6 goals at those finals as he also won the Golden Ball award.

He was named FIFA Player of the Century in 2000 and in 2020 was voted the greatest player of all time ahead of the likes of Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Looking back on his career as a whole, Pele will in some peoples eyes be the greatest player of all time because of things he did on the pitch and the accolades he won. His 3 World Cup's and 2181 career goals will back that up as no one has yet achieved that feat. People who were alive around the time he was playing will say that he's the greatest whilst some who were alive a lot later will probably say that the greatest is either Messi or Ronaldo. But they might still say that Pele is one of the greatest alongside those two and maybe Maradona.