Pele s career goals tally may be open to debate but there is no questioning his greatness.
The Brazilian legend starred for Santos and changed the game during his spell with the New York Cosmos. However, he is perhaps best remembered for his achievements in international football, helping the Selecao win the World Cup on three occasions.
The first – in 1958 – saw Pele score twice in the final when aged 17 years and 249 days. Four years later, injury curtailed his involvement, but Brazil still retained the Jules Rimet Trophy.
In 1970, the national hero helped leave an indelible mark on the history of the sport. Pele, having said he would not play another World Cup after 1966, was awarded the Golden Ball, given to the best player at the tournament.
His legacy as one of the best players to ever grace a pitch still remains strong as he celebrates turning 80 on Friday.
To mark the Pele s personal milestone, Rob Bateman recalls the 1970 tournament and a team that lives long in the memory
64 Neymar against Peru :
3 goals 4th time he has scored 3+ goals for his country in a single game, the 1st one in a competitive game
He has scored his 62nd, 63rd 64th goals 2nd best Brazil scorer, overtaking Ronaldo (62) and only behind Pelé (77)
Hat-trick.
— OptaJean (@OptaJean)
Growing up in England with football in the 1960s and 1970s was very different from today.
The foreign superstars playing in English football were from the rest of Great Britain and Ireland, not from mainland Europe or South America.
The best teams and players in the world were not on TV every week. There was no live football on television apart from the FA Cup final, the Home Internationals and World Cups.
Great Britain was an island, both geographically and in terms of football.
It was not too different across Europe. Live games were not regularly shown, in domestic or UEFA competitions.
As a result, there was no homogenised football where teams played roughly the same style. There was no internet, no YouTube, no sports channels to catch glimpses of football outside your own country. When a World Cup came around you saw players you had only read about in books or newspapers.
You saw genuinely new things that delighted, enthralled and shocked the viewing audience, such as the famous Cruyff turn, the ticker tape at Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires and fouls in the opposition half by a rush goalie like Ramon Quiroga of Peru.
But nothing stands out in that era as much as the Brazil side of 1970. Still vaunted as the best team ever in some quarters, it is hard to argue against the fact that they, and their talisman Pele, had the greatest impact on world football.
From the iconic yellow shirts, blue shorts and white stockings in the first competition to be broadcast live in colour, to their beautiful and effective style of play. Kenneth Wolstenholme s famous description of their sheer, delightful football summed up how Brazil in 1970 captured the hearts of all fans and encapsulated everything great about the world s favourite sport.
Mario Zagallo became the first man to win the trophy as a player and then a coach. His team was the first since the 1930s to win all their World Cup matches en route to the trophy.
Six games, six wins in qualifying. Then six games and six wins at the finals, scoring at a rate of 3.2 goals per game in Mexico. Only one team has averaged more goals per game since 1958 than this brilliant Brazil side and that was Hungary in 1982 whose average was boosted by a freak 10-1 win over El Salvador.
This 1970 Brazil squad scored three or more goals in five of their six matches; a feat only matched in World Cup history by the West German side of 1954.
Jairzinho scored in all six matches, becoming the only player to net in every single round at the World Cup finals, although they needed to be prolific as they only kept one clean sheet in the six matches they played.
Of course, Brazil are famed for their long-range shooting. Stats Perform have analysed all the World Cup finals matches back to and including 1966. During that time, the Selecao have scored 37 times from outside the box – 11 more than closest rivals Germany and over double any other side.
It s not just quantity though, it is about the quality of a shot – only South Korea (6 per cent) have scored with a higher percentage of their long-distance attempts than Brazil, who have netted one in every 23 attempts (4.4 per cent).
