Dead Pelé: the traditional rivalry with the Argentine national team

Pelé, who died this Thursday at the age of 82, I was just 16 years old when he made his debut for the Brazilian national team on July 7, 1957. And he had to do it in front of 80,000 spectators, at the Maracana stadiumagainst Argentina. This alone would be a historic fact, but that’s not all: for the first time Argentina managed to beat Brazil right in that stadium.

The Brazilian DT Silvio Pirillo called up the young Santos star for his debut. Argentina took the lead with a goal from Labruna in the 29th minute and Pelé equalized in the 31st minute in the second half. Two minutes later, “Gitano” Juárez gave Argentina victory in this match for the Roca Cup. The rematch was played three days later in San Paolo and there Brazil took their revenge 2-0 with another goal from Pelé and one from Altafini. The Selection that would give the first world titles to the “verdeamarelha” was envisaged.

On the other hand, the performance of Argentina – South American champion in Lima 1957 – at the World Cup in Sweden was disappointing, where it suffered a defeat (1-6 against Czechoslovakia) and entered a long period of football crisis.

Even with his national team – but already world champion – Pelé came to play in our country for the first time. It was on the occasion of the 1959 South American championship, where he attended all their matches at the Monumental. That tournament is best remembered for the scandal between the Brazilians and Uruguayans (perhaps a holdover from the Maracanazo). In the last round, Argentina finished one point ahead of Brazil. And the 1-1 draw in that match gave the Scudetto to our national team, even if Pelé was sanctioned as “the player of the championship”, in addition to being the top scorer.

In the Argentina-Brazil clashes, both friendly and official, Pelé was a constant protagonist, until his retirement from the national team in the early 1970s. For the Roca Cup they met again in 1963 and despite Argentina winning the first leg 3-2 at the Morumbí in San Paolo, three days later the Brazilian revenge is sensational at the Maracanà: 5-2. Amarildo scored two goals and Pelé got a “hat-trick” (something very few players have achieved against our national team, the last of which, the Spanish Isco in the sad night of Madrid’s 6-1 win in 2018).

For Argentina, one of the unforgettable moments of those clashes occurred in 1964. The Brazilian Sports Confederation had organized the Nations Cup to celebrate its two world titles. And there, together with Brazil, two powers of the time participated (England of Bobby Charlton, Portugal of Eusebio) and Argentina, which longed for its return to the fore. Argentina started with a 2-0 win against Portugal with goals from Tanque Rojas and “Toscano” Rendo, at the Maracanà. And on June 3 he faced a Brazil with all his figures in the Pacaembú. Busy day: 3-0 for Argentina with goals from Ermindo Onega and two goals from “Oveja” Telch, as well as a penalty saved by Amadeo Carrizo from Gerson.

In his helplessness, Pele dealt a heavy blow to his relentless goalscorer, Mesiano, and broke his nose. Osvaldo Ardizzone’s report in El Gráfico testifies to this: “Pelé left mortified. Perhaps ashamed of his accursed headbutt in the face of the messian boy, who had had the audacity to brand him, to erase his genius. And the King doesn’t like being dominated by his subjects”. Argentina also beat the English and went unbeaten, with the cup lifted by captain Ramos Delgado, the same man who would later become Santos de Pelé’s centre-back.

The last Argentina-Brazil clashes with Pelé on the field date back to just before the World Cup in Mexico, in 1970. Our national team – disconsolate by their elimination in the South American phase – went to Brazil and surprised 2-0 in Porto Alegre. Four days later, in a rematch in Rio de Janeiro, Jairzinho and Pelé sealed a 2-1 draw against Argentina. In Brazil the technical management of Joao Saldanha was still being discussed – finally replaced by Zagalo, the “Lupo”, the same one who as a player had already entered the world champion teams of 1958 and 1952 – and if so many number 10s could coincide in the same come on .

But, finally, the Brazilian “ballet”, which would shine like never before in Mexico, was beginning to take shape. Argentina has suffered.