| For us younger folks, Brazil soccer is great because | | | | Participating in numerous youth tournaments with |
| that's how it's meant to be...we take that as a natural | | | | Ameriquinha, Pele made a name for himself at a |
| order of things, having grown up with the Brazilian | | | | tender age for his prowess in front of goal, becoming |
| soccer team's successes in the World Cups of the | | | | top scorer in almost all of these tournaments. |
| 1990s. | | | | At the tender age of 15, he caught the eyes of one |
| But the myth of Brazilian soccer was born a lot | | | | of the biggest teams in Brazil, FC Santos, who |
| earlier, in times when soccer started to become a | | | | offered him a contract and by 16 he was already a |
| worldwide "plague" and there are a lot of people who | | | | member of the senior squad. He spent almost his |
| attribute this internalization of soccer to the Brazilian | | | | entire career at Santos, since European transfers |
| team of the 50s, a team that was lead to success | | | | weren't that popular back, although the final 2 years |
| by one of the most preeminent figures in sports, the | | | | of his career were spent at New York Cosmos, |
| famous soccer player Pele. | | | | before Pele finally hanged his boots. |
| Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele climbed a | | | | Pele made his debut in the Brazilian soccer team in |
| steep mountain from living his youth in a poor | | | | the same year he debuted at Santos' senior squad, |
| Brazilian family, to becoming one of the most beloved | | | | when he was just 16 years old. Amazingly, he was |
| figures in the modern history of sports. His father | | | | taken on to the 1958 World Cup squad, at age 17, |
| was a footballer himself, playing for Fluminense in the | | | | becoming the youngest player in the competition. He |
| Brazilian league and it was only natural that young | | | | even scored a crucial goal in the quarterfinals against |
| Pele would follow his father's footsteps in the game. | | | | Wales, a goal which took Brazil past that stage and |
| He wasn't always known as Pele though. Rumor has | | | | into the semis. |
| it that this nickname was given to him in primary | | | | But Pele was saving the best for the final: meeting |
| school, as he kept misspelling the name of one of his | | | | Sweden, he scored a magnificent goal, lobbing the ball |
| favorite players at that time, Vasco Da Gama's | | | | past a defender and volleying it into the net, |
| goalkeeper Bile. | | | | eventually winning the final for Brazil. After the match |
| His schoolmates gave him this new nickname and | | | | ended, the effort and the joy bundled up and the |
| mostly made fun of him, so he obviously disliked it; | | | | 17-year old Pele couldn't take it, passing out on the |
| so much that he punched the fellow classmate that | | | | field and needing medical attention. |
| coined the nicknamed. However, in time, he gradually | | | | As a soccer player, Pele attended 3 more World |
| became used to it and even started liking it and it | | | | Cups, between 1962 and 1970, winning the first and |
| wasn't long before everyone knew the soccer | | | | latter. He was the first player ever to score in 4 |
| wonderkid as Pele. | | | | different World Cups and in 1970 he achieved a |
| Living in poverty, he couldn't afford soccer | | | | unique performance that boosted him to the heights |
| equipment, nor a soccer ball. He shined shoes for an | | | | of international soccer: he scored 1,000 official goals |
| extra coin that would help him and his friends stitch | | | | for club and country. |
| up a newspaper-filled sock to use as a football. He | | | | Although many dispute this record or try to bring it |
| formed a team with his neighbors from the Sete de | | | | down, saying that soccer wasn't as defensive or |
| Setembro street and even participated in a youth | | | | tactical back than as it is today (which is partially |
| tournament, where the team earned the nickname | | | | true), his merit of being a major stand pole on the |
| "the shoeless ones" because none of the kids could | | | | international soccer stage between the mid 50s all |
| afford to waste their walking shoes (if any) on | | | | the way to the late 70s should not be undermined. |
| playing soccer. | | | | Named best soccer player in the World and athlete |
| A few years later, each member of the team | | | | of the 20th century, Pele now acts as an |
| worked hard for the extra money to get a proper | | | | ambassador for soccer and fair play. |
| pair of shoes and renamed their team to Ameriquinha. | | | | |