Pelé died: the Santos ballet, the team from the suburbs that became giant thanks to O Rei

In the press center of the Green Point stadium in Cape Town during the 2010 World Cup a mistake was happening which perhaps was not a mistake. Among the football celebrities who have decorated the facilities, Pele, the undisputed protagonist of the World Cup, could not be missing. But he didn’t look there with his mischievous child’s face under the Swedish sky, in 1958; Nor did he fly in the air to celebrate a Brazilian goal in Mexican territory in 1970. He had a broad smile that told his moment and a white shirt with an unmistakable shield bearing three letters: SFC, Santos Futebol Clube. A journalist from São Paulo with many experiences on the way, who was preparing to attend Spain-Portugal -for the round of 16-, said it clearly and without hesitation: “That was the best Pelé, the one from Santos”. Less public and less widespread than Edson Arantes do Nascimento dressed in yellow-green, there was the wizard who transformed the Porto team into the team of history.

Journalist Manuel Epelbaum, who saw that team without forgetting that Pelé who gave it life and stellar brilliance, said from Brazil: “I have the impression that if it weren’t for Pelé, you couldn’t imagine how Santos would live in this moment. Until the emergence of the “King”, the so-called “Peixe” (fish) was a shaky sporting entity that had won only two titles in its 44-year history without him. The revolution began when coach Lula, one distant September afternoon, called a skinny boy of just 16 with the nickname “Gasolina” to replace Del Vecchio in a friendly match against Corinthians de Santo André. Well, that boy from ‘Gasolina’, with what he demonstrated on the pitch and with a goal over the Zaluar goalkeeper, was already Pelé. Then, he won titles relentlessly, he took Santos to all corners of this planet; they say it stopped a war in Africa; He left the referees in a delicate situation (they say that once in Colombia he was expelled and the fans asked the judge to retire) and silenced the opponents with impossible goals ”.

He was also courageous: in 1959, during a match against Juventus Paulista on Javari Street in São Paulo, Pelé fell short of his record and heard mutterings and rejections from the crowd every time he touched the ball. Then, already fed up, he took his revenge in the best possible way: with a goal for history. He received a pass on the edge of the area, made two “caps” on the opponents and converted the header. With all that anger no longer entering his body, He ran out and punched the air. From that day on, that way of celebrating became one of her trademarks.

The numbers also concern Edson Arantes do Nascimento at Santos: between 1956 and 1974, the Brazilian star would have scored more than a thousand goals. He was a goalscorer for Paulista 11 times (with a record of 58 shouts in 1958). He has won 22 state, regional and national tournaments, two Libertadores and two Intercontinentals.

Journalist Jaime Rincón writes in the newspaper Marca: “Brazilian football has always been synonymous with fun. The South American country boasts of being the standard bearer of the ‘jogo bonito’ and of having placed entertainment above any tactical limit or rigid system throughout its history. There are many examples in history that have demonstrated this Brazilian cult of the ball and of the offensive game, but one stands out above all: Pelé’s Santos”.

It was a matrix of a way of understanding football. It has proved to be an unbeatable expression of the playful nature of the sport. And he accompanied the joy with impressive results. Since those days of O Rei, Santos has gone from being a team from the outskirts of the state of São Paulo to becoming a universal giant. FIFA recognized him accordingly: that Santos was aptly referred to as “The 20th Century Team”.

It wasn’t just Pele who played, of course. He was perfectly surrounded by crack and/or very slick performers. Even now, his collaboration with Coutinho is considered one of the most majestic in history. Antonio Falcao portrayed that tandem for his book “Os artistas do futebol brasileiro” (The artists of Brazilian football): “In the inexhaustible history of football, several crack pairs have been formed. Although the one formed by Pelé and Coutinho was extra-planetary, fantastic and defined Santos in 1960. Most of the goals for that almost invincible team were his. The two signed 1,456 goals for Santos, 371 of them from Coutinho, which was Pelé’s most perfect match on the pitch. Curiously, they did not meet in social life. The masterful walls (tabelinhas) that enchanted stadiums from 1958 to 1967 are one of those geniuses, but what most characterized them was the harmony between the two, something musical, like telepathy, two rare intelligences to offer to the public delights of incredible performances ”.

That team had its best expression in the 1962 Intercontinental Cup final, against Benfica. In the first leg Santos won 3-2, at home at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro. In the rematch, the team celebrates: they win 5-3 at the Da Luz stadium in Lisbon. The France Football newspaper then headlined: “Brazil also has the best team in the world”. It happened that in those days – times close to the double championship for the selected ‘canarinho’ – football seemed strictly verdeamarelo. In the book “Donos da terra”, the writer Odir Cunha points out that that second presentation was the best in the entire history of a Brazilian team. Fernando Cruz – defender of the Portuguese national team and Eusebio’s Benfica, rival of Santos – said a truth about that memorable team that has gone through the centuries: “But it wasn’t just Pelé. I had Pepe, Zito, Coutinho, Dorval… It was an extraordinary, unique formation.”

Time has brought inevitable comparisons with other great teams that were being born. Now, without a doubt, the impeccable reference for establishing similarities and differences is Messi’s brilliant Barcelona.

On one occasion, César Luis Menotti told the Buenos Aires newspaper La Nación: “I don’t know if Guardiola’s Barcelona is the best in history, although in terms of beauty I think so. You could only compare it to Pele’s Santos. It’s very difficult to do what Barça does. Playing well is not just about passing the ball. You have to defend yourself well and be balanced. There were teams that could have beaten Barça, but by playing like this, with that creativity, that self-confidence… They play like in the neighbourhood, they move the ball without hysteria, they play with virility, but with a game development that makes me it drives you crazy.”

In a more recent Club World Cup, the heirs of that Santos school – with the histrionic Neymar and the audacious Paulo Henrique Ganso as the main exponents – crossed paths (and lost) with Barcelona, ​​which also represents that football so friendly to the viewer. In some ways, it was a shared tribute to that team that inhabits so many memories. to that legend.