Pele: The King

How do you describe greatness in words? Well, this is the most difficult task for a great writer or a low profile blogger like me. Just an article or a blog or a vlog can never be able to pay the ideal tribute to someone who is regarded as an all-time great. And, when you sit down to write something on one of the greatest sporting icons in history - it becomes tougher. And, to pay tribute to Pele after knowing about his death - the fingers don't act properly on the keyboard, emotions tend to overshadow the thought process and eyes become misty. 

Football was played even before Pele arrived in the scene. Football gained sky-high popularity even the boy from Sao Paulo kicked the round object. But since, that 17-year-old kid - Pele emerged on the greatest show on earth in 1958 -football changed forever. The round object that unites the world, would be blessed by the touch of the Brazilian carnival - Samba, and charm people around the globe. 

Football became an art when Pele started running with the ball.  He brought the charm of the Brazilian beaches, the music of the Samba carnival, the smile of the Brazilian beauty, and the simplest of the joy of those middle and lower class Brazilian whose happiness depended on the feet of the Boys from Brazil. 

He was the epitome of Joga Bonito, while the rest followed his rhythmic display on the football pitch. 

The God blessed Pele with a blend of supreme athleticism, skill and tactical vision. He could run 100m in 11 seconds, shoot with either foot and outjump the tallest defenders. His sheer physicality and turn of speed were electrifying as he homed in on goal, outsprinting or simply charging through defences while managing to keep the ball under close control. 

Pele's excellent technique, balance, flair, agility, and dribbling skills enabled him to beat opponents with the ball, and frequently saw him use sudden changes of direction and elaborate feints in order to get past players, such as his trademark move, the dribble da vaca. Another one of his signature moves was the paradinha, or little stop.

But, unusually for such a prolific goalscorer, he could also be a team player - a marvelous playmaker, who could operate from the deep and pull the strings. His brilliant football senses allowed him to put the ball in the pockets of spaces, from such a tough angle or positions that it remained just a dream for the mortals.

His great secret was improvisation, which Pele did in one moment. He had an extraordinary perception of the game. He was simply flawless. And off the pitch, he is always smiling and upbeat. No one ever saw him as bad-tempered. Always humble and friendly. 

 Among the most successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century, Pele is one of the most lauded players in the history of football and has been frequently ranked the best player ever Following his emergence at the 1958 World Cup he was nicknamed O Rei - The King. And, he kept on justifying his nickname until he hang up his boots. 

Pele brought Brazil's football back on track after the national catastrophe in 1950 - he showed the Samba Boys how to take their game to the next level. It was Pele, who showed the rest of the generation, how football can be a beautiful game and how improvisation can bury traditions once and for all.  

Pele was a decisive player and his impact on the game dictated the success story of Brazil during his prime and still today, his legacy is intact. 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Qatar deliver an outstanding FIFA World Cup, but the victory of Argentina remains dubious

First of all, let me congratulate Qatar for staging one of the finest FIFA World Cups in history. Despite all the pre-tournament negative propaganda — Qatar has answered the world about how a successful tournament could be arranged and how to fight against the mass negativity with action rather than words.

The Argentina unit of Lionel Messi won the tournament in a thrilling final that would easily go down as the greatest final in the history of the 92-year-old event — but in the end, the success of Messi and his boys remains dubious for me and that is the only chink in the armor of Qatar’s gift to the world this year.

I wouldn’t deny that I am a die-hard Brazil fan and like Cristiano Ronaldo a lot. And, for which, my opinion may not be accepted by the Argentinean fan base — but that hardly matters because I would give my opinion based on logic — obviously, bitter truths are always hard to digest, and thus, whether agree or not, the victory of Argentina in Qatar was very fishy.

 Let me show you.

 

Argentina started the tournament with a shocker against Saudi Arabia, but before digesting two goals, the first penalty they received raised immediate questions among the neutrals.

Take a close look at the image above where it can clearly be seen that Paredes pushed the Saudi Arabian player and they both fell afterward. So why did the referee award the penalty?

 Parades pulled the Saudi player towards him and fell down to make it look like a penalty.

 It’s a normal collision that happens many times in a game, and it didn’t affect the play.

 Well, Argentina were awarded a penalty, and Messi scored.

 Thankfully, Saudi Arabia responded bravely, and perhaps, the plan of the hierarchy took the telling blow — for which, they decided that no such accidents happen in the future.

 The next match of Argentina was against Mexico — who are like Nigeria for the Alibiceleste — no matter where in the world, Argentina would meet them, Mexico would lose for sure, and in the World Cup — they have never beaten Argentina.

 The game was heading towards a stalemate until the referee interfered again.

 

Let’s take a look at Messi’s deadlock-breaker — one can clearly notice that the referee used all his might to dodge the ball coming at full speed on him just so Messi could have a clear shot at goal.

 The photo above indicates Julian Alvarez was blocking Ochoa’s view after the referee let Messi take the shot. Alvarez was on Ochoa’s face, blocking his entire field of view and he had to guess where Messi was going to shoot. Alvarez was offside as well and no free-kick was given. Ochoa did not complain because it was obvious that the referee was against them and favoring Argentina now. The fans were just blind to see it then.

In the match against Poland, where Argentina had to win, they were awarded a penalty and how logical was that decision remains a moot question.

Messi already headed the ball and it went out for a goal kick.

Szczęsny barely touched Messi’s face after he headed the ball.

Not a foul, and didn’t affect the play at all.

Because of his open goal miss, the referee had to do something to give Argentina momentum.

 So the referee awarded the penalty because Szczesny’s hand had by mistake touched Messi. The referee spotted the perfect opportunity to give Argentina the lead, but Messi missed it.

Argentinean went on to win the match courtesy of a strange display by Poland, whose lack of movement with or without the ball created doubts throughout the match.

 

In the first quarterfinal of the tournament, Brazil went out against Croatia courtesy of a tie-breaker and the interference of the referee who denied Brazil a clear-cut penalty, and then there were several fouls committed by the Croatian players that were never noticed by the referee.

Neymar gave Brazil the lead, but a lackluster defending by Marquinhos that led to the last-minute equalizer and missing the penalty by the same player — ensured Croatia another semifinal berth.

 

Don’t forget — Marquinhos plays for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and is a low-profile customer in comparison to Neymar, whose mistakes would be criticized but not come under the scanner.

With the most dangerous team of the tournament making a sad exit from the tournament — it was time for the hierarchy to give their everything to pull the collar of Argentina and ensure a spot in the semifinal.

 

The opponent of Messi and co in the quarterfinal was Holland, who was a hard nut to crack.

As usual, the match started with a penalty for Argentina. 

Check out the first penalty given on Acuna by rewatching the match.

 

We can clearly see he couldn’t even give a fake shot and dived inside the box with minor contact. Too soft to be a penalty, but the referee awarded a penalty.

You may think this is only a penalty right, but as always, it was the referee’s trick to give the entire momentum to Argentina, who grabbed with both hands.

 

But they nearly choked as the Dutch equalized like Tigers and all Argentina needed was to take the game to the penalty shootouts keeping in mind, that Holland are genuine choker in these shootouts and it worked in their favor.

Again, during regulation time — Messi intentionally handed the ball but went unnoticed — he should have been shown a red card.

Before this, he handed the ball as well but no action was taken, but in this tournament, Messi was meant to be supported wholeheartedly.

 

Then there was a forceful shoot at the opponent’s dugout — sadly, no action was taken.

Later on, Frenkie de Jong said, “Messi takes the ball with his hand and the referee just lets it go. He was really scandalous.”

In the semifinal, Croatia wished to dish out their fighting spirit against Argentina, but very quickly they realized that the story was different — no matter how much they decided to fight, all their efforts would be in vain.

Again, the referee gifted Argentina the momentum.

Alvarez clearly missed his shot really badly and then tried to make contact and dive so that he could at least get the penalty. He executed it perfectly.

Luka Modric, later on, said, “I want to congratulate Argentina, I don’t want to take credit away from them. They deserve to be in the final. But that first penalty wasn’t a penalty and it destroyed us.”

 “There’s no way that’s a penalty,” said Gary Neville at the TV show. “They didn’t even check the VAR. I’ve no idea why. It’s not a penalty,” said Ian Wright and Roy Keane said, “I agree with the lads, that’s not a penalty for me.”

 “The goalkeeper’s feet are always on the floor, he never tripped him. The contact is inevitable. Not a penalty, “said former referee of FIFA Felipe Ramos Rizo, and Iker Casillas said, “Totally Agree with Felipe.”

So, according to the plan — the Argentinian advanced to the final and met the best team of the tournament — defending champions France, who, despite all the setbacks due to injury performed outstandingly and deserved to win the tournament for the second consecutive time.

But……yet again, robbery under the floodlights took place.

Yet again, and yes — yet again, Argentina were awarded a penalty and the decision raised eyebrows.

Angel Di Maria kicked himself and fell down? A tackle from behind? Where was the physical contact? — how on earth could this be a penalty?

 

But the referee awarded a penalty and Argentina received the momentum.

 Now, moving on to disprove claims “If it was rigged for Argentina, why did France get two penalties?”

 The two penalties France got were 100% clear-cut.

The referee could never have ignored them.

 Rewatch the match and judge by yourself.

Counter argument:

“But that 2nd penalty for France should have been a free kick to Argentina because the French player handballed it before Mbappe got the ball!”

 Totally wrong!

 He headed it backward to Mbappe. No handball.

 When Messi scored the third goal for Argentina, it should have been disallowed as the substitutes of Argentina entered the field.

FIFA’S OFFICIAL RULES ON PEOPLE ON THE PITCH

 Here’s the official FIFA rulebook:

 If, after a goal is scored, the referee realizes, before play restarts, that there was an extra person on the field of play when the goal was scored:

 The referee must disallow the goal if:

 

1. The extra person was an outside agent and he interfered with the play.

2. The extra person was a player, substitute, substituted player, or team official associated with the team that scored the goal.

 

The referee must allow the goal if:

1. The extra person was an outside agent who did not interfere with the play.

2. The extra person was a player, substitute, substituted player, or team official associated with the team that conceded the goal.

Referee Szymon Marciniak and the officials deliberately ignored the incident and so the goal stood.

In theory, France could have filed a complaint but it would almost certainly not change the outcome of the match.

The match went to penalties and Argentia are immortals in shootouts — Martinez exhibited hypnotic antics that were racial but none would point a finger as they all are biased towards Messi.

Argentina won another World Cup under controversial circumstances.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar