Pele. The Lost Prime Tournaments
Edson Arantes do Nascimento is generally acknowledged to be one of the greatest footballers of all time. Even his haters have not been able to deny this. The biq question is as to whether the complement is complementary enough!
The fact that many analysts ignore when they compare Pele with Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi is that unlike the 2 Argentines, Pele never had the opportunity to play a full major global National Team Tournament while injury free in his prime. As a matter of fact, if one looks at stats that suggest that sportsmen generally reach their prime at Age 26, (refer to attached snapshot from the credible website), then Pele never had even 1 Single World Cup or Copa America Injury Free Prime Performance! At age 21/22, he was injured in his second match of the 62 Mundial and never played again in that tournament as a result. His experience in 1966 in England was even more horrific, he was brutally fouled in each of the 2 matches he played and played the last match while limping. He vowed never to play in the World Cup again as a result. The seeming conspiracy that he suffered from in that World Cup is another subject entirely.
It is quite noteworthy that despite his commanding performances in the 1958 World Cup and the 1959 Copa America, Pele was still a teenager in both tournaments and was still not yet a fully physically mature athlete. As a matter of fact, this writer has a strong opinion that Pele's goal against Mexico in the 1962 World Cup would have been almost impossible for him to score in the 1958 and 1978 World Cups for physical reasons!
The 1970 Pele was not the Prime Pele. He had suffered major injuries in 3 of the years between 1962 and 1965, and then came 1966. It is quite explainable that he never fully recovered either physically or mentally from these injuries. Sports Medicine in the Pele era was definitely not at the level it is today, where most Soccer players can expect to still deliver prime physical performances beyond 30 years of age because of how equipped their doctors are!
Let's look at Maradona, who played all of Argentina's matches at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups when he was between 22 and 26 years of Age, his physical prime. He achieved 6 legitimate goals and 6 assists at most in 12 prime performances. No one, and NO ONE, should consider Maradona's Hand of God goal in assessing his abilities in comparison with others! Pele, on the other hand, had scored 7 goals and 3 assists in just 5 World Cup Matches by the time of his injury in the 62 tournament.
Pele's pre-prime direct goal contribution per match is actually as high as twice that of Maradona's prime performance.
The fact that many analysts ignore when they compare Pele with Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi is that unlike the 2 Argentines, Pele never had the opportunity to play a full major global National Team Tournament while injury free in his prime. As a matter of fact, if one looks at stats that suggest that sportsmen generally reach their prime at Age 26, (refer to attached snapshot from the credible website), then Pele never had even 1 Single World Cup or Copa America Injury Free Prime Performance! At age 21/22, he was injured in his second match of the 62 Mundial and never played again in that tournament as a result. His experience in 1966 in England was even more horrific, he was brutally fouled in each of the 2 matches he played and played the last match while limping. He vowed never to play in the World Cup again as a result. The seeming conspiracy that he suffered from in that World Cup is another subject entirely.
It is quite noteworthy that despite his commanding performances in the 1958 World Cup and the 1959 Copa America, Pele was still a teenager in both tournaments and was still not yet a fully physically mature athlete. As a matter of fact, this writer has a strong opinion that Pele's goal against Mexico in the 1962 World Cup would have been almost impossible for him to score in the 1958 and 1978 World Cups for physical reasons!
The 1970 Pele was not the Prime Pele. He had suffered major injuries in 3 of the years between 1962 and 1965, and then came 1966. It is quite explainable that he never fully recovered either physically or mentally from these injuries. Sports Medicine in the Pele era was definitely not at the level it is today, where most Soccer players can expect to still deliver prime physical performances beyond 30 years of age because of how equipped their doctors are!
Let's look at Maradona, who played all of Argentina's matches at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups when he was between 22 and 26 years of Age, his physical prime. He achieved 6 legitimate goals and 6 assists at most in 12 prime performances. No one, and NO ONE, should consider Maradona's Hand of God goal in assessing his abilities in comparison with others! Pele, on the other hand, had scored 7 goals and 3 assists in just 5 World Cup Matches by the time of his injury in the 62 tournament.
Pele's pre-prime direct goal contribution per match is actually as high as twice that of Maradona's prime performance.
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