Upon listening to the devastating news, Antonio Pereira and his son started sprinting in earnest; the legendary Pele, the one considered the best footballer of all time, had handed away, they usually had been decided to be current to pay their final respects.
Pereira and 12-year-old Luis Eduardo weren’t the one ones overcome with emotion – a flood of followers of Brazil’s most revered sporting icon descended on Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in Sao Paulo Thursday after Pele’s household and medical doctors confirmed his dying at age 82.
“He’s our greatest idol, the greatest footballer of all time,” Antonio stated, after operating 1.5 kilometers (virtually a mile) to the hospital, the place Pele died a month after being admitted for what turned out to be his ultimate battle with colon most cancers.
“I had always hoped to have my picture taken with him someday,” stated the 46-year-old businessman.
Wearing a soccer jersey, younger Luis Eduardo stated he was unhappy he had by no means had the prospect to see Pele’s legendary expertise within the flesh. But like nearly all Brazilians, he grew up listening to about his exploits.
“The first name I ever heard about in football was Pele, the greatest player of all time,” Luis Eduardo stated.
Fans additionally flocked to depart flowers exterior the stadium of the membership the place Pele spent most of his profession, Santos, because the southeastern metropolis declared seven days of mourning for its hero.
Other tributes shortly got here nationwide: Brazil declared three days of nationwide mourning, Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue was lit up in yellow and inexperienced, and the famed Maracana stadium was illuminated in gold in homage to “the greatest of all time.”
Journalists from world wide in the meantime traveled to Sao Paulo, Santos and Pele’s southeastern hometown, Tres Coracoes, as Brazilian TV ran wall-to-wall protection of his dying and the nationwide outpouring of emotion – punctuated with dazzling archival footage from his taking part in days.
The King by no means dies
Nicknamed “O Rei” – The King – Pele had one of the vital storied careers in sport, scoring over 1,000 targets throughout his glittering profession and successful the World Cup 3 times – the one participant in historical past to realize the feat.
He put Brazil on the world map because the “land of the beautiful game” – as leaders as disparate as outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro and incoming president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had been fast to say in glowing tributes.
Outside the hospital within the upscale neighborhood of Morumbi, mourners cried, waved Santos flags and hung a banner studying, “Eternal King Pele.”
“We came to say goodbye, to pay a small tribute to him, as I think everyone should do,” stated Jose Carlos Souza Santos, 43.
“Pele represents our passion for football. Everyone who ever wanted to play football has been inspired by him.”
Alipio Bedaque, a 66-year-old guide, stated he had rushed to the hospital, like many – however solely after shortly placing on his prized Santos 1956 duplicate jersey, the 12 months of Pele’s debut.
He vividly recollects watching Pele play with Santos, a metropolis 75 kilometers from Sao Paulo.
“You didn’t even see the other players. You just fixated on Pele and what he would do,” Bedaque stated.
“Pele and Santos are what made me fall in love with football.”
But Pele’s legacy will not cease there, he stated.
“He was a giant worldwide icon, well beyond his sport.”
