Sports brushstrokes in 2014

2014, a year of joy and pain for the United States of America, in relation to sport. During this year, a wide range of events have taken place. It's not over yet, but the moments lived have been unforgettable, for better and for worse.

First of all, the main soccer event, apart from the MLS annual championship, has been the World Cup in Brazil. It's widely known that, wether USA National Team is the best in generations, they can't compete with the first-level selections, such as Spain, Germany, Brazil... But the truth is that an american hero has emerged; Tim Howard.

Howard in the World Cup. Source: Creative Commons Search

The soccer team was kind of a roost, due to the fact that Landon Donovan, the best american player in history, wasn't selected in the 23 players that were going to Brazil. In the first knockout serie, against Belgium, they were quite inferior. USA managed to eliminate the Portugal of Cristiano Ronaldo, but they weren't able to defeat the sensation of the tournament.
Even though they lost, their goalkeeper, Tim Howard, had an incredible performance, with 16 saves, setting the record of the World Cup.

Changing ball, in basketball USA has smiled this year. The three main events were: the NBA Finals, the World Cup in Spain, and the women's World Cup. The american teams of basketball managed to win both tournaments, without almost no problems. However, the expected final against Spain couldn't be carried out because of our prompt elimination.

Khawi Leonard during the NBA Finals. Source: Creative Commons Search

In the national tournament, the NBA, San Antonio Spurs won against Miami Heat comfortably. It wasn't Lebron James, Tim Duncan or Tony Parker but Khawi Leonard won the MVP of the Finals with three incredible performances that gave the Spurs another ring.

Last but not least, as every year, the most important event was the Superbowl. New Jersey was the scenery of the XLVIII edition of the NFL final, that faced the Broncos of Denver and the Seattle Seahawks. The team of Seattle won, achieving their first Superbowl in their history.

NFL Superbowl. Source: Creative Commons Search

The duel against Russel Wilson and Peyton Manning was decided, with the win of the hawks player. However, the hawks quarterback wasn't the MVP, delivered to Malcolmm Smith for his decisive touchdown.

Tomás Orihuela
Journalism

The achilles heel of Pelé

Everybody knows that when it comes to sports, USA has a lot of individual cases to be showed as an example. From Michael Jordan in the Chicago Bulls to the most successful swimmer of all times; Michael Phelps not forgetting Muhammad Ali and his amazing boxing skills. On the other side of the coin, there are athletes that didn't succeed. It's the case of Lance Armstrong due to his doping issues, the same as Justin Gatling. However, all theses cases, good ones and not so good one, are widely known by everyone.

For that reason, we're going to analyze a relevant case that not so much people have ever been informed about. That case has a huge name: Pelé. For the last years of his successful career, he decided to play for New York Cosmos, in order to get soccer a more powerful sport in the States.

Pelé making a flip in the air while he kicks the ball (september1968). Source: Creative Commons Search

The expectations placed in the 3 times World Cup winner with Brazil were high. He thought of retiring. Therefore, Clive Toye; manager of the New York Cosmos, had other plans for him. After several years of attempting to sign him, he achieve itin 1975. Toye had Pelé as the perfect missionary of soccer to the country. Although he was the most known player all over the world, there he was a stranger, people didn't even know how to pronounce his name accurately. That was the main objective: to get soccer to be 'trending topic'.

It was a tremendous step for the brazilian player, not only in his career ambitions but in his life outside the pitch. He didn't knew the language, he had to take his children away from their schools and their roots to go to a different country. A completely start over. Nevertheless, O' Rei remained positive about it, finally he could walk in the street without being recognized. Unfortunately, he also had to deal with his whole country treating him as a national traitor.

Pelé playing for New York Cosmos. Source: Creative Commons Search

When he signed, he wasn't in good shape, that's why his yield was poor. He predicted 15 goals, and unbelievably he only scored 5. From the 1225 goals he scored in his entire career, only 5 were for New York Cosmos in the League Games. In fact, he didn't play too much games for that team, because of his injuries. It's widely know that he has a physically gifted athlete. However, surprisingly, in his years in USA he had injuries and he wasn't in a good shape. Probably because soccer wasn't the most important thing is his life, as it was when we played for Santos in Brazil.

Although he managed to fill stadiums with his performances, he never could compete with basketball, football, hockey, baseball... The truth is that he failed. Nowadays, the most important soccer championship is The Major League Soccer (MLS), which doesn't overshadow other ones such as NBA, NFL or NHL. It's not a competitive league, indeed players who aren't in their best time anymore or those who are aging go to play there. David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Frank Lampard or Rafa Márquez are a few example of that. The challenge is still unachieved, the question is: will somebody be able to put soccer in the USA's spotlight? Doubtless, Pelé is still one of the best players in history, but this challenge overcame him.

Tomás Orihuela

Journalism