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Brazil, Soccer, Brazil: Pele and the 1958 World Cup in Sweden (I)
Brazil, Soccer, Brazil: Pele and the 1950 World Cup
Brazil, Football, Brazil: Pele, Origin
Pele began his time at Santos with a couple of rooms in the stadium that served as dormitories for single players, each room had 8 beds on top and bottom bunks, the rooms were very simple and the atmosphere was very nice, Pele trained with the team and originally he thought he would be assigned to the same age group of players, but to his surprise, Santos sent him straight to the first team to be on the same side as some of the Brazilian internationals. Before taking the field, Pele was a bit shy, he was a small boy and weighed less than 60 kilograms. Pepe, a Santos teammate who later became Pele's lifelong friend, could see that Pele was very nervous at that time, and he ran next to Pele and comforted him by saying, "Don't be nervous, all the teammates here are very nice, you'll know it in a minute! However, that was off the field, but when he took the field, Pele was a completely different person. Some of his international teammates were assigned to guard Pele, but Pele still broke through the defense, which was an amazing move for the coach Lula, who later told Pele that he liked Pele's style of play: I don't know how to say this, but you have to make your body stronger so that you can play for Santos! First team.
So even though his first team mates appreciated him and he continued to train with the first team, Pele continued to play with the Santos 20's and lower 18's youth teams during matches. For the time being, his life has been pretty uneventful, with seemingly no noticeable changes, no epiphanies, no victories in matches, he just trains day in and day out and focuses on soccer. Of course Pele has set aside extra time every day for self-training, he tries to add extra meals to his diet, he eats everything in sight, he continues to work out and he has taken up karate (which he says has taught him how to land correctly, which is very important for a footballer), after all, he has to prove himself because he is not only playing for the spectators or for his teammates, he has goals and ambitions of his own to achieve, and in any case he cannot fail!
Pele's performance in the youth ranks was excellent, he helped Santos Under 20's win the State Championship, and he was called up on short notice to play in the Under 16's Youth State Championship (Pele was 15 at the time), but in this game Pele conceded a penalty and his team lost, the fans booed, Pele cried, he felt distraught and humiliated, and like what happens to many kids, Pele decided he couldn't stay at Santos any longer, he had to leave! He felt upset and humiliated, and as happens to many children, Pele decided that he couldn't stay at Santos any longer and that he had to leave! In his autobiography, Pele writes that the next morning at 6:30am he packed his bags and walked towards the gate of the players' hostel to go back to his hometown of Baru. But then he heard a man's voice: "Hey, stop! Who gave you permission to leave here? It was Sabuzinho, the housemaster, and anyone who wanted to leave the dormitory needed the signature of the team director! The warden said this to Pele. I know, just let me leave and I'll give you the papers, Pele said. Of course, under these circumstances, Pele's escape plan failed, but in retrospect, Pele said that being stopped was one of the greatest blessings of his life. When Sabuzinho learned of Pele's reasons for escaping, he also taught Pele an important lesson: everyone makes mistakes, and the point is to learn from them, not to escape. If Pele does manage to escape, it's likely that Santos, a team that emphasizes discipline, won't want him back!
The days of training with the first team and playing for the youth team continued, with Pele's position being set as an attacking midfielder, and his rivals for the same position in the first team being Del Vecchio and Vasconcelos, who Pele couldn't help but feel that the road ahead of him was still a long one, as he watched them play. But luck winked at Pele and he got his first start in a Santos first team shirt in an external practice match, in which Santos beat them 6-1, with Pele contributing 4 goals (not counting the official match goals, though, as it was a practice match). After this game, his first teammates looked at him differently, as if they could understand why Santos wanted Pele to be part of the first team at such a young age. The local Santos media also took notice of him, and word spread, reportedly doubling the number of spectators at Santos' training sessions!
