WHY THE WORLD LOVES BRAZIL
Pele was adamant. It was July 1966, and the Brazilian dream was over. Their greatest player had made up his mind: he never wanted to play at the World Cup again.
A winner in both 1958 and 1962, he was still only 25 years old, but enough was enough. The famous forward had lasted only two group matches in Chile 62 before injury denied him any further action in the Selecao’s march to glory. Four years later, he had been mercilessly booted around Goodison Park first by Bulgaria, then Portugal. Reduced to a limp, he was powerless to stop Brazil exiting before the quarter-finals.
The common denominator was clear to him: European referees offered no protection,. Pele would not be going to Mexico 70.
