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.
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| 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.
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| 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