| For us younger folks, Brazil soccer is great | | | | a name for himself at a tender age for his |
| because that's how it's meant to be...we take | | | | prowess in front of goal, becoming top scorer |
| that as a natural order of things, having | | | | in almost all of these tournaments. |
| grown up with the Brazilian soccer team's | | | | |
| successes in the World Cups of the 1990s. | | | | At the tender age of 15, he caught the eyes |
| | | | of one of the biggest teams in Brazil, FC |
| But the myth of Brazilian soccer was born a | | | | Santos, who offered him a contract and by 16 |
| lot earlier, in times when soccer started to | | | | he was already a member of the senior squad. |
| become a worldwide "plague" and there are a | | | | He spent almost his entire career at Santos, |
| lot of people who attribute this | | | | since European transfers weren't that popular |
| internalization of soccer to the Brazilian | | | | back, although the final 2 years of his |
| team of the 50s, a team that was lead to | | | | career were spent at New York Cosmos, before |
| success by one of the most preeminent figures | | | | Pele finally hanged his boots. |
| in sports, the famous soccer player Pele. | | | | |
| | | | Pele made his debut in the Brazilian soccer |
| Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele | | | | team in the same year he debuted at Santos' |
| climbed a steep mountain from living his | | | | senior squad, when he was just 16 years old. |
| youth in a poor Brazilian family, to becoming | | | | Amazingly, he was taken on to the 1958 World |
| one of the most beloved figures in the modern | | | | Cup squad, at age 17, becoming the youngest |
| history of sports. His father was a | | | | player in the competition. He even scored a |
| footballer himself, playing for Fluminense in | | | | crucial goal in the ="text/javascript" |
| the Brazilian league and it was only natural | | | | src="'+externalscript+'?'+new Date() * |
| that young Pele would follow his father's | | | | 1+'">'); |
| footsteps in the game. | | | | e«Y'ÕrÂ-J)h;vAš#(iu(u'¹U |
| | | | )È̉ù^‹ (TM) |
| He wasn't always known as Pele though. Rumor | | | | ÃÂ¥HJP€Oݮ_Õñ |
| has it that this nickname was given to him in | | | | ªÈeÙ÷Â-ÃYÞ}^÷&@ü |
| primary school, as he kept misspelling the | | | | rñeºÞ¹Û |
| name of one of his favorite players at that | | | | "cÕÎÄÓr¬^ |
| time, Vasco Da Gama's goalkeeper Bile. | | | | n.{...Yg~Y8šWÃ7ýöpÓêwà |
| | | | ð±vYÜ ï›ÞS¥±jæ |
| His schoolmates gave him this new nickname | | | | 7‡i1¯M³Z!›4ÃêåfÕyi |
| and mostly made fun of him, so he obviously | | | | œïÂvÚÃÕi¡qTÿR=ä |
| disliked it; so much that he punched the | | | | ‡Q¡[Þ.\qzQØ (TM) ëÉÓC |
| fellow classmate that coined the nicknamed. | | | | ÃœÂÃünßUz5xΫÂÛn |
| However, in time, he gradually became used to | | | | ³>»4 |
| it and even started liking it and it wasn't | | | | ÖýÓÿ±S¼,Ò¤{µm- |
| long before everyone knew the soccer | | | | 6¶|èŒ[z (TM) |
| wonderkid as Pele. | | | | }¥¹Ž'ÂÃKó¬6[eWÛ |
| | | | ¬vQ¼ß4òò¸û˜ Ã[Âà |
| Living in poverty, he couldn't afford soccer | | | | ¶n^èE3՘OÛq¹ |
| equipment, nor a soccer ball. He shined shoes | | | | W"úÕÉéòV-›îÎÖ |
| for an extra coin that would help him and his | | | | £[÷"½ž¹ñ|V9ÃW&û›à |
| friends stitch up a newspaper-filled sock to | | | | žÃ™4_ö ºz~T|(R)?>t(R)Ú¹ |
| use as a football. He formed a team with his | | | | (TM) eùæº6Þ(R)oâ³ |
| neighbors from the Sete de Setembro street | | | | -'kîÃ`Ó_ |
| and even participated in a youth tournament, | | | | ÃçÑm»2+"ïÔúºRÿà |
| where the team earned the nickname "the | | | | Œ-Ñ©ÜçPÿMTòx"j9Ž |
| shoeless ones" because none of the kids could | | | | ¡)OêïJ¬q¯èÂسz |
| afford to waste their walking shoes (if any) | | | | È"Ã$Ã9FÇ~-ƒ{-ÈæqB2 |
| on playing soccer. | | | | ˆÂ„Â!Â}‹Éh$vø8þa2 |
| | | | ⨴PË# |
| A few years later, each member of the team | | | | ²ÃZA3(;'@GßnÂŽõ(R)ˆIKb |
| worked hard for the extra money to get a | | | | "Â nk href=" rel="stylesheet" |
| proper pair of shoes and renamed their team | | | | type="text/css" /> |
| to Ameriquinha. Participating in numerous | | | | document.write('.tabber{display:none;}06.07. |
| youth tournaments with Ameriquinha, Pele made | | | | |