EAn encounter about twenty years ago, an audience with “O Rei”, the king, as they called him. Radiant and springy, he comes through the door as if the athleticism that used to make him jump almost a meter high when he headed was immortal. He greets his interlocutor charmingly, a global ambassador of good football. At the time, Brazil was on the ground, having lost six games in the World Cup qualifiers, so that Pelé eventually substituted himself for the “Seleção” – at least while he was sleeping.
“I dreamed I was in the game,” he says, demonstrating some of the body tricks he used to fool defenders in his heyday. Then, relieved like someone waking up from a nightmare, he throws his eyes to the sky. Luckily, he notes, Brazil have enough strikers. And is right. Thanks to eight goals from Ronaldo, two of them in the final against Germany, Brazil became world champions in 2002.
