Edson Arantes do Nascimento famously known as Pele passed away after days of being put on palliative care to see his days out suffering from colon cancer. He was 82. The king is no more but he nourished generations with his brilliance on the ball. Pele put Santos on the map and was the catalyst driving Brazil to World Cup championships in 1958, 1962, and most memorably 1970, where he won the Golden Ball in a team widely considered the greatest in history.
Eduardo Galeano has to say this of Pele:
“Once he held up a war. Nigeria and Biafra declared a truce to see him play. To see him play was worth a truce and a lot more. When Pele ran hard he cut right through opponents like a hot knife through butter. When he stopped, his opponents got lost in the labyrinths his legs embroidered. When he jumped. he climbed into the air as if there were a staircase. When he executed a free kick, his opponents in the wall wanted to turn around to face the net, so as not to miss the goal. “
“But those of us who were lucky enough to see him play received alms of an extraordinary beauty: moments so worthy of immortality that they make us believe immortality exists.”
The king is dead, long live the king. Pele is immortal. He is Jogo Bonito.