Much more than a goal scorer
Pelé
M. Nedim Hazar
November 19th, 1969. A crowd of over 65,000 at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The hosts,
Vasco Da Gama, are hosting a very important opponent: Santos. In fact, there's an even bigger name
than Santos: Pele.
When his name is announced, the Maracana stadium collapses.
Pele, who has already netted 999 times, is expected to score his thousandth goal here.
It's a historic day, because since the invention of soccer, no footballer on earth has come close to
reaching this figure, let alone reaching it.
For the first time in its 70-year history, Vasco's own fans want a rival to score a goal.
In the first minutes of the match, as expected, Santos started to press, Pele, facing the goalkeeper
with a through ball, lost his angle, but hit the ball, a little softly, Vasco goalkeeper Edgardo Andrada
was in great form and kept it comfortably. Their own fans started booing their goalkeeper, Andrada
was dumbfounded! In the second half Pele, this time from outside the penalty area, curled the ball
outside the box with the outside of his right foot, the Vasco goalkeeper, at the risk of injuring his
knee, flew like a tiger and cleared it off the crossbar with the outside of his right foot. The crowd
went wild with rage.
Although Vasco scored an own goal (a Vasco defender headed the ball into his own net just as Pele
was about to score), the match ended in a draw and the king of football did not score that day. This
was undoubtedly due to the fact that the number 4 and 5 players of the home team abandoned the
game and put Pele in their sights. Actually Brito, Dutra, Fidelis and Jair Marinho, the Vasco Da Gama
defense was a wall.
And the extra time
The moment came with 12 minutes to go, when Pele, entering the penalty area with a through ball,
was caught between two opposing players and brought down. It's a cliché: the referee didn't hesitate
to point to the penalty spot. Goalkeeper Andrada protested a lot, but the noise from the stands was
deafening: Pele, Pele, Pele...
The Brazilian people, who had been suffering for years from the Mondgel Syndrome, which I will tell
you about in a moment, had trampled on the love of the club, glorified the opposing goal scorer,
wanted him to go down in history, and everyone had only one concern: "o milésimo", the historical
witness to the "thousandth".
Pele tensed up as he planted the ball on the white dot. For a moment he thought to look around him.
None of his teammates were around, and he turned back in amazement. The entire Santos team was
lined up side by side on the midfield line, praying.
Pele hit the ball half a meter above the ground to the left of the goalkeeper, Andrada flew with all his
might, he had anticipated the corner, he had managed to touch the ball, but he couldn't stop it from
going into the net. As Andrada punched the grass in anger, all hell broke loose at the Maracana.
Hundreds of journalists, photographers, TV journalists flooded the pitch, substitutes, technical staff,
fans and so on, the pitch was full and the celebration of the goal lasted 24 minutes.
One of the most important moments in the history of soccer, he went to the goal and took the ball
between the nets and that ball is still considered sacred in Brazil today.
The scenes I have described are depicted in Netflix's new documentary Pelé.
The documentary is the result of an enormous archive search.
In addition to the fine workmanship, almost every living witness was interviewed. And of course, first
and foremost with Pele, the hero of the documentary.
The documentary begins in an empty hangar as Pele, who has difficulty walking, slowly enters the
frame and we learn the story from his mouth.
The Pele documentary starts by rewinding the movie a bit...
From the ghettos of Brazil, we learn about the poverty-stricken life of Pele, the painter's son of a
father whose life is football.
Born in 1940 to a family of lumberjacks, the boy was named Edson Arantes do Nascimento Pele. A
childhood spent in poverty with his two siblings, a professional soccer player father who was
permanently unemployed... His name was Joao Ramos do Nascimento, his nickname was Dondinho
(which doesn't sound very nice) and little Pele was called "son of Dondinho" for a long time.
Dondinho played for junior teams and when Pele was 6 years old, he got the chance to sign for
Atletico Mineiro, one of Brazil's big teams. The festive mood at home was short-lived, as he suffered
a cruel blow in his first game and was injured, forcing him to end his career. From then on, he pinned
all his hopes on his son. He becomes her first mentor and coach. And the unfortunate father finds a
job as a cleaner in a hospital.
Pele, on the other hand, struggles to support his family by shining shoes until the age of 15.
Sometimes with a ball made out of old socks, sometimes with a grapefruit, Pele plays bounce ball,
giving his foot a great agility.
These parts are not detailed in the documentary, after a general narration, the main story starts in
1956, when he joined the Santos club at the age of 15. We hear about the beginning of Pele's
professional life from his teammate Pepe, who first discovered him. At the age of 16 he made the
first team.
The event that changed his destiny was undoubtedly his call-up to the 58 World Cup squad. A
tremendous happiness in the lumberjack family. Pele gets on a plane for the first time in his life and
travels abroad for the first time. At the World Cup in Sweden, Brazil was not recognized. It was even
seen as a bit of an average team. As Pele recounts his memories, he says that the Swedish children
were amazed by the color and thought it was paint. When the journalists learned that there was a
17-year-old boy in the squad for the quarterfinals in Gothenburg, they made some rather obscene
comments before the match.
Pele remembered his father's words: "Believe in yourself and remember, whatever your age, career,
fame, you are all equal on the pitch!"
The ball comes into his lap in the penalty area, he does what he had done a thousand times before
with a grapefruit, softens it with his knee, dives past the opponent and shoots... When Pele scores,
the picture changes. Brazil, who beat Wales with this goal, are France's opponents in the semifinals.
Pele plays like a 40-year veteran and scores against France. And then another, and another. Brazil
eliminates the arrogant French 5-2.
In the collective memory of the Brazilian people, the defeat to Uruguay in 1950.
The society feels a great sense of humiliation because of this. Losing the cup at home to another
country, a Latin American country, has a huge impact on the country's self-confidence. Not just the
200,000 Brazilians who filled the Maracana stadium, but the whole country is traumatized.
Brazilian writer Neslon Rodriguez says that after this incident, Brazilian society suffered from a
syndrome called "Mongrel Comlaxia".
So what is this Mongrel Complex?
Radriguez explained his concept as follows: "The feeling of inferiority that Brazilians voluntarily put
themselves in compared to the rest of the world with the "Mongrel Complex". Brazilians are inverted
Narcissus, spitting in their own image. Here is the truth: we cannot find personal or historical excuses
for self-esteem."
There is still an urban legend that many people committed suicide by throwing themselves down at
the Maracana stadium at the end of a match.
The Portuguese word for this complex is complexo de vira-lata, which translates as complexo de vira-
lata, or stray dog complex.
The historical cycle will show that the Brazilians experienced a similar situation again in 2014 when
they lost 7-1 to the Germans at the World Cup, again at home.
You can research the concept of "Cultural Shame" to understand the definition more closely.
Let's continue with our documentary.
When Brazil, who had also eliminated France, faced Sweden in the final, all the players, with the
exception of Pele, were very nervous. After Sweden's first goal, millions of Brazilians on the radio
began to worry that history would repeat itself.
But heroes are heroes because they appear when they are needed most, and on the pitch the
greatest hero in the history of soccer is born. Pele bounces the ball like a pair of intertwined socks,
then, after beating his opponent, puts it in the corner. 1-1...
When hope blossoms, one grows... The Brazilian team shook off its humiliation and realized its
strength. A few minutes after the first goal, Pele changed not only his personal history but also
Brazil's fortunes with a header from Zagallo's cross. The Brazilian team won the final 5-2 and
returned home as heroes. The country talks only about them, especially about Pele... 10 years of
losers are over.
The documentary not only enriches the original match footage with interviews with the protagonists
and witnesses, but also maintains continuity and increases curiosity.
In the documentary, we learn the unknown details of a well-known story.
A 17-year-old boy is changing the destiny of his country with his feet.
What follows is a story of heroism. Pele has become the country's biggest brand, adding value to
everything he touches. First and foremost to his club Santos. The club, which was ordinary and had
not achieved much until that day, ran from success to success and its fame went beyond the borders
of the country.
But life is not a straight line and no story continues in the same line of happiness. Pele also
experiences great pain, hardship and despair.
Pele, who brought three of the four World Cups he participated in during his career to his country,
for a period of time, his fate and the fate of his country were so parallel that Brazil was plunged into
political and social chaos due to injuries and his withdrawal from football.
When General Medici consolidated his dictatorship in the late 60s, he made great use of soccer. And
Pele, of course.
At this very moment, the world is embracing another political hero: Muhammad Ali Clay. Unlike Pele,
Muhammad Ali refuses to be a political tool and is greatly admired. Pele, on the other hand, is
criticized even in his own country for being a tool for a dictator. But he has his reasons.
Brazil owed a lot to Santos, Santos owed a lot to Pele, Pele owed a lot to Brazil... In this cycle of
gratitude, Pele refuses to be a political figure. But he also refuses to be used by the state. When he
goes all the way to the dictator's palace, he receives great criticism from the public.
In 1966, in the World Cup finals in England, Brazil played incredibly cruel football against their
opponents. Within a week Brazil had 8 players, including Pele, out of the squad due to injury.
Bulgaria, Hungary and Portugal were mercilessly crushed by the yellow and green team.
No matter how much Pele, the country's national symbol, ran away, he could not escape the coups. It
was during this period that the fragile Brazilian society collapsed socially and economically. It was as
if there was no hope without Pele.
When Pele announced his retirement from the national team, clouds of pessimism surrounded the
country.
It was as if football was the glue that held society together, and when this failure led to Pele quitting
the national team and then announcing that he was quitting football, social unrest broke out in Brazil
in 1968. The Medici government declared martial law. The general saw pessimism as an opportunity
to consolidate his dictatorship.
The documentary does not act like Pele on these issues, but keeps its camera on the truth and tries
to shed light on the history of the country beyond football. It talks about the peak of torture, murder,
kidnappings, torture in prisons, repression, censorship and bans.
Directors Ben Nicholas and David Tryhorn (who we know from their documentaries on the famous
athlete Danny Harris and the English soccer player Kenny Dalglish) While following Pele's life story,
they also try not to miss the bigger picture.
Although side stories such as M. Ali and General Medici enrich the documentary in this respect,
unfortunately, due to the time handicap, they are passed with small touches.
One of the most pleasant details is that the fatherly president of Santos at the time, Athiê Jorge
Coury (who looks a lot like our late Süleyman Seba)
"As long as I am president, Pele will not be sold from Santos". Because according to Coury, Pele was a
national treasure and national treasures could not be sold for any price.
Indeed, as soon as the Santos president changed, the new one, Vasco José Fae, gave the green light
to Pele's transfer to America. Pele would try to save his body and soul, tired of being crushed under
the weight of the world he lived in, by transferring to the Cosmos for 4 million dollars in 1975...
Between 1957-61, Pele scored 355 goals before he turned 21, a figure not reached by many scorers
throughout their careers.
He scored 1284 goals for Santos, the team he played for until 1974.
By the time he retired from football in 1977, he had scored 1281 official goals in 1363 league games.
The number of goals he scored when he retired was much debated. Some say that Pele was lucky to
have played football at a time when television was widespread and was the only channel in many
countries. That's why many soccer players' goals were not included in the official literature. For some
reason, the documentary prefers not to go into these issues.
On the other hand
The biggest problem with the documentary is its duration.
The one and a half hour documentary is full in every sense of the word. However, the material that
could have been a series of at least 8 episodes is either wasted or not touched upon at all, so to
speak. For this reason, they tried to complete the story by including a considerable epilogue in the
finale. As a moviegoer, we don't see the details of his adventure as an actor in the documentary, for
example...
With all its flaws and beauties, Netflix's Pele is a great documentary. It offers both a historical
perspective on our generation and a first-person account of a genuine hero.
Do not miss...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMyUnyxVB9Q
