The GOAT debate in football is tedious, overplayed, exhausting, and as evidenced by how many people seriously consider Cristiano Ronaldo to be the greatest player of all time, often very, very stupid. Any entity that measures success in likes or views or retweets or comments has a vested interest in stirring the debate anew, and people and pundits will inevitably gravitate towards favoring the players they actually saw play, especially if advancements in filming and broadcasting meant they were able to watch them play more easily, more clearly, and colorfully.
Continue readingTag: Pelé (Page 1 of 2)
Pelé, the greatest footballer of all time, died in São Paulo today at the age of 82 after a lengthy battle with colon cancer.
I plan to update this post with some lengthier observations, and please leave your own tributes in the comments; I’ll include as many of them as I can. In the meantime, I can suggest a few assorted pieces of reading and viewing.
The Ringer’s Brian Philips dedicated the last episode of his 22 Goals podcast to Pelé and his famous goal in the 1958 World Cup final, the one this blog chose as the greatest Seleção goal of all time. Pelé also features in the penultimate episode, about Carlos Alberto’s goal in the 1970 final.
Netflix’s documentary Pelé combined some wonderful historical footage with an honest look at the man as he was in the throes of old age.
And here’s Pelé with his Argentine counterpart Diego Maradona—himself also deceased not terribly long ago—putting aside (well, somewhat) the question of who’s the greatest to have a little fun together.
After literal months of nominating, voting, and eliminating, we’ve finally whittled down our bracket of 68 goals down to two. It’s time, at long last, to choose the greatest goal in the history of the Brazil national football team.
Let’s meet our contestants, and relive the path each took on its way to the final.
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The losers from the semifinal get one more chance in the spotlight, and for some added fun, I figured I’d throw in a few goals that could’ve made the final bracket but weren’t even nominated.
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Readers, it’s time to meet your Final Four.
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We’ve finally narrowed down our 68-goal bracket to just eight glittering examples—an Elite Eight, if you will.
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In the first of the second-round votes…
Ronaldinho’s first goal for Brazil notched a routine win over Marcelo’s 2011 goal against Mexico, garnering 72% of the vote.
In a contest that wasn’t settled until the final hours of voting, Neymar’s opening goal at the 2013 Confederations Cup beat Josimar’s long-range shot against Ireland in 1986, with 56% of the vote.
Another very close contest saw Josimar’s goal in the following game against Poland win 54% of the vote over Roberto Carlos’ forgotten “banana shot” against Jamaica, which became the highest-seeded goal to be knocked out so far.
Lastly, and to my genuine surprise, Pelé’s forgotten goal against Mexico in the 1962 World Cup completely wiped the floor with Adriano’s goal in the 2004 Copa América final, with 73% of the vote. I nominated Pelé’s goal in the first place and have long thought it deserved more attention, and even so, I went with my gut and voted for Adriano’s strike, based on the combination of technique and last-second clutch-ness. Apparently, I was fairly alone on that call, but I’m not complaining—this was just one of the most unexpected results of the whole bracket so far.
You can view the whole bracket here.
And now…
TODAY’S VOTING
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At long last, we are done with the first round. In the last block of first-round voting…
Carlos Alberto’s legendary World Cup final goal advanced by unanimous consent over Oscar’s legendary U-20 World Cup final goal:
Edmilson’s bicycle kick against Costa Rica in 2002 beat Pelé’s goal from the 1970 World Cup final with 60% of the vote:
Bebeto’s volley against Argentina in the 1989 Copa América earned 88% of the vote over Cafu’s goal against Wales in 2000:
And Marta’s legendary goal against the USA at the 2007 World Cup garnered 92% of the vote over Cristiane’s overhead kick against Nigeria at the 2008 Olympics.
You can view the whole bracket so far here.
And now…
TODAY’S VOTING
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On Romário Appreciation Day, only one of O Baixinho‘s goals made it through…
His goal against Israel in 1987 lost to Nelinho’s famous swerving shot in the 1978 World Cup third-place match, which won 61% of the vote:
His volley against Mexico in 1997 beat Pelé’s goal against Romania in the 1970 World Cup, earning 62% of the vote:
His backheel against Mexico in 2001 lost out to Careca’s famous goal against France in the 1986 World Cup, which won 60% of the vote:
And his goal against Italy in the 1997 Le Tournoi lost, just barely, to Marta’s solo goal against the USA in 2014, which squeaked by with 52% of the vote. Her win guarantees that we’ll have two goals from the women’s team in the round of 32.
You can view the whole bracket so far here.
And now, what you’ve all been waiting for…
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