By the time the World Cup in 1966 in England, Pele was arguably the best player in the planet and Brazil were the undisputed hot-favourites to lift the trophy. Brazil’s start to the World Cup was dashing – Bulgaria were thrashed away in a typical Brazilian fashion. Pele had scored a goal from a free-kick making him the first player to score in three World Cups while his teammate Garrincha also had scored from a free-kick. That was the last moment of joy Pele had experienced in the World Cup in England. The Bulgarians spent the rest of the game fouling and kicking Pele and thus forcing him out of Brazil’s second game against Hungary. A Pele-less Brazil were beaten badly by the Hungarians. This was Brazil’s first defeat in a World Cup match since 1954. It was Puskas’ Hungary who had beaten Brazil. The next match was against the tournament’s most dangerous side Portugal. Pele arrived to play in that match, but it was a horrifying match for him and Brazil. The Portuguese adopted a terrible plan to stop Pele. Both strengthening the defence or man-marking would not be enough to stop Pele and for which they simply started to challenge him physically. However, Portugal had obviously seen the success Bulgaria had achieved in taking Pele out of the game by kicking him and followed suit. Despite continuous violent fouls fouls on Pele, the referee refused to send-off any of the Portuguese defenders. The world watched the cruel tactics of the Portuguese and biased nature of referee with utmost shame. Pele had to hobble on for the ninety minutes as substitutes had not yet been introduced into the game. It was said that the referee let Portugal “get away with murder” as their disgraceful challenges on Pele went unpunished and the world’s best player was kicked and stamped out of the tournament. Brazil were eliminated from the World cup at the group stage and Pele vowed to never again play in a World Cup.
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 18:44:59 +0000
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