Edinho touches the forehead of his father, Brazilian soccer great Pele, who lies in state at Vila Belmiro stadium in Santos, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) |
Forty-five years after Pelé played his last game, it’s hard to imagine modern soccer, or Brazil, without him.
Geovana Sarmento, 17, waited in the three-hour line to view
his body as it lay in repose at the stadium where he played for most of his
career. She came with her father, who was wearing a Brazil shirt with Pelé’s
name.
“I am not a Santos fan, neither is my father. But this guy
invented Brazil’s national team. He made Santos stronger, he made it big, how
could you not respect him? He is one of the greatest people ever, we needed to
honor him,” she said.
Pelé will be buried Tuesday in the city where he grew up,
became famous, and helped make into a global capital of soccer. A Catholic Mass
will be celebrated at the Vila Belmiro stadium before his casket is ushered
through the streets of Santos to a nearby cemetery.
Brazil’s newly inaugurated President Luiz Inácio Lula da
Silva, who was sworn in for a third term Sunday after a comeback victory, paid
his respects at Vila Belmiro.
The soccer great died Thursday at age 82 after a battle with
cancer. He was the only player ever to win three World Cups.
Thousands of mourners, including high school students and
supreme court justices, filed Monday past the body of Pelé on the century-old
field where he made his hometown team one of Brazil’s best. Pelé’s coffin,
draped in the flags of Brazil and the Santos FC football club, was placed on
the midfield area of Vila Belmiro.
Lula arrived at 9 a.m. and took part in a Catholic Mass as
fans continued to walk past the coffin, and expressed his condolences to Pelé’s
widow, Marcia Aoki, holding her head between his hands. He left 30 minutes
later.
The storied 16,000-seat stadium was surrounded by mourning
fans, and covered with Pelé-themed decorations inside. Fans coming out of the
stadium said they’d waited three hours in line, standing under a blazing sun.
Caio Zalke, 35, an engineer, wore a Brazil shirt as he
waited in line. “Pelé is the most important Brazilian of all time. He made
soccer important for Brazil and he made Brazil important for the world,” he
said.
In the 1960s and 70s, Pelé was perhaps the world’s most
famous athlete. He met presidents and queens, and in Nigeria a civil war was
put on hold to watch him play. Many Brazilians credit him with putting the
country on the world stage for the first time.
Rows of shirts with Pelé’s number 10 were placed behind one
of the goals, waving in the city’s summer winds. A section of the stands was
filling up with bouquets of flowers placed by mourners and sent by clubs and
star players — Neymar and Ronaldo among them — from around the world as
loudspeakers played a song named “Eu sou Pelé” (“I am Pelé”) that was recorded
by the Brazilian himself.
The crowd was mostly local, although some came from far
away. Many mourners were too young ever to have seen Pelé play. The mood was
light, as people filtered out of the stadium to local bars, wearing Santos FC
and Brazil shirts.
Claudio Carrança, 32, a salesman, said: “I never saw him
play, but loving Pelé is a tradition that goes from father to son in Santos. I
learned his history, saw his goals, and I see how Santos FC is important because
he is important. I know some Santos fans have children supporting other teams.
But that’s just because they never saw Pelé in action. If they had, they would
feel this gratitude I feel now.”
Among those at the stadium was Pelé’s best friend Manoel Maria,
also a former Santos player.
“If I had all the wealth in the world I would never be able
to repay what this man did for me and my family,” Maria said. “He was as great
a man as he was as a player; the best of all time. His legacy will outlive us
all. And that can be seen in this long line with people of all ages here.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino told journalists that every
country should name a stadium after Pelé.
“I am here with a lot of emotion, sadness, but also with a
smile because he gave us so many smiles,” Infantino said. “As FIFA, we will pay
a tribute to the ‘King’ and we ask the whole world to observe a minute of
silence.”
Another fan and friend in line was Brazilian Supreme Court
Justice Gilmar Mendes.
“It is a very sad moment, but we are now seeing the real
meaning of this legendary player to our country,” Mendes told journalists. “My
office has shirts signed by Pelé, a picture of him as a goalkeeper, also signed
by him. DVDs, photos, a big collection of him.”
Pelé had undergone treatment for colon cancer since 2021.
The medical center where he had been hospitalized said he died of multiple
organ failure as a result of the cancer.
Pelé led Brazil to World Cup titles in 1958, 1962 and 1970
and remains one of the team’s all-time leading scorers with 77 goals. Neymar
tied Pelé’s record during this year’s World Cup in Qatar.
0 comments:
Post a Comment