Fans of Pelé gathered at the store dedicated to him in New York’s Times Square on Thursday, to memorialize and celebrate a soccer player who electrified the city when he signed with the New York Cosmos in 1975 on a three-year, $7m (£5.8m) contract, a deal that made the 34‐year‐old player the highest‐paid team athlete in the world.
“I grew up hearing about Pelé,” said Larisa Belyansky in front of a wall celebrating the king of football. “The style of his play was so different, the way he moved.”
“We remember him as the greatest player”, said her husband, Alex, “because he was the only one to win three World Cups.”
Days before Pelé signed with New York, US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, an avid fan of the game and advocate of soccer diplomacy, had urged him join in a telegram: “I am sure your stay in the United States will substantially contribute to closer ties between Brazil and the United States in the field of sports.”
By the time he arrived, one year after retiring from his Brazilian club Santos, he’d already scored 1,216 goals in 1,253 games over an 18‐year career, and led Brazil to three of the four World Cup championships between 1958 and 1970.
“You can say now to the world that soccer has finally arrived in the United States,” he said when he signed his contract at the 21 Club before 200 photographers and press.
Pelé went on to score 37 goals and win a North American Soccer League championship during 64 league matches for the Cosmos through 1977. His impact was seismic.
The Cosmos’ largest crowd before his arrival was 8,000. When they won the 1977 championship, the team’s average attendance was more than 40,000 and crowds of more than 70,000 came out three times during that campaign.
“Pelé’s name will forever be synonymous with sporting artistry and genius,” the Cosmos said in a statement posted on the team website. “His lasting impact on the sport of soccer is inestimable. Rest in peace, O Rei.”
As fans of the player gathered at the Pelé store in Times Square to celebrate a player who retained the regal title until his death on Thursday, none said they recalled the excitement of seeing the Brazilian play during his New York years, but many said they were inspired to come to the store after they heard the news.
Marcos Ramos, 16, said he wanted to pay tribute. “I’m feeling sad,” he said. “He was a very talented, skilled and creative player”.
A 2006 documentary, Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos, chronicled the craze which Pelé set off nearly 20 years before the US hosting of the 1994 World Cup, sparking a new level of American interest in soccer.
“I fell in love with soccer and he became a big inspiration for my whole soccer career,” said Lola Cannova, 15, a left-winger for the Palm Beach Garden Predators team.
“I was inspired by his journey, how he came from nothing and worked so hard by himself, and on his own time, to become so great. He made everything seem so effortless but there was obviously a lot of work behind it,” Cannova added.
Racks of Pelé sports shirts, including his Cosmos green jersey and others capturing his famous bicycle kick, were pretty much sold out within hours of his death being announced. “It’s difficult,” he once recalled of the maneuver. “My greatest regret is that I have never scored a bicycle kick goal in a World Cup.”
Outside the store, in a busy sales-season Times Square, Amir Hussain, visiting from Denmark, was attempting a portrait of the player in salt atop a concrete barrier.
He explained that Pelé was incomparable and stood apart from contemporary football superstars such as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
“His poor background was against him, but he was ahead of his time,” Hussain said. “He came to America and changed the way the game was played. He was unique.”
Source| TheGuardian
