Pele

MY hero is Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, better known as Pele.

On October 23,1940 the day greatest soccer player ever was born. Pele is one of the most respected soccer players that has walked on the surface of earth. When Pele was growing up he played soccer with a ball made of socks. He gathered some kids from his neighborhood and went around challenging kids from other neighborhoods.

Pele got his skills from his father, Dondinho. Dondinho introduced Pele to the game when he was a baby. Pele’s father used to play soccer too. He was a center forward until a leg injury which forced him to say goodbye to his soccer career. As Pele got older he began playing soccer for a local youth soccer league. Pele’s family was very poor and when Pele wasn’t playing soccer, he was shining shoe’s for no more then a penny.

When he was eleven he was discover by one of the country’s primary players, Waldemar de Brito. Brito told the coach of Santos that Pele would be the greatest soccer player in the world, and Pele didn’t let him down. On Pele’s first professional appearance for Santos he scored within the first ten minutes and it was surprising because he was only sixteen at that time. At the age of 17 Pele was selected to represent his country in the World Cup of 1958. During the whole Cup Pele scored six goals and two in the championship win over Sweden. At that point a legend was born. Pele had the gift of speed and great balance, and the ability to control the ball, along with a powerful shot. Four years later they went to the finals and won it again, but Pele did not help his country because of an injury during the first game.

Soon after that, very wealthy European soccer clubs offered massive amount of money for the young player. But the Brazilian government said that he was a treasure and they didn’t let him leave the country, so they turned down all the offers. In 1966 in the World Cup in England, Pele was brutally tackled by Bulgarian and Portuguese defenders, and Pele left the finals in tears. But that’s wasn't the last of Pele. At the World Cup finals in Mexico, when Pele was 29, he scored a goal and the won over Italy one to four, making it Brazil’s third World Cup in a row. Pele made the 100th goal Brazil scored in a World Cup.

During Pele’s career was scored 1,280 goals in 1,360 games. Pele has the record for most hat tricks at 92. He has 97 international level goals. Pele retired from the game in 1974. But a year later he made a come back to play for the New York Cosmos for a seven million dollar contract for three years. Pele was the first in the North American soccer league to get highly paid. On October 1, 1977 Pele's career ended in his last match between the Cosmos and the Santos. The game was sold out six months before the match was played. Muhammad Ali hugged Pele in the locker room before the match and said “now there are two of the greatest”. In 1993 Pele Joined the National Hall of Fame. In 2000 he was awarded the second Sportsman of the Century.