Pele - 1940 - 2022 (Reuters)
In the summer of 1961, Israel's sports sections were busy preparing for a match between the Israeli national team and the Italian national team.
The match, as part of the qualifiers for the 1962 World Cup in Chile, was supposed to take place in October at the Reg Stadium. In Israel and around the world, the talk was mainly about the Brazilian national team and its great star Pele. In those days, the president of Inter, Moratti, offered Pele's team, Santos, the sum of 2 million dollars which was 6 million pounds and in Israeli terms at the time, a huge amount (for the sake of illustration, in those days you could buy an apartment in Tel Aviv for ten thousand pounds).
The president of Brazil, Janio Cuadros, decided that the realization of the deal would create a political crisis and declared Pele a national asset of Brazil that should not be sold to a group outside the country and made sure to approve a special grant to the Santos group.
50 years later, in 2011, the Brazilian government made a move similar to that of Pele, and did not allow Santos to sell its great star, Neymar, to a European team.
To balance her budget, Santos went with Pele on a game tour in Europe.
The tour of the summer of 1961 also included Israel.
On June 11, the Brazilians played against a mixed team of players from the champion Hapoel Petah Tikva and players from Maccabi Tel Aviv.
In 90 minutes, 60,000 pounds entered the Santos coffers.
The Israeli press was like a concoction and everyone was chasing Pela.
Santos visited the holy sites in Jerusalem and Nazareth and held 2 training sessions at the Reg Stadium. Thousands of teenagers and curious people came to the training sessions of the famous team to witness the greatest footballer in the world in action. At the time, Pele was only 20 years old. Pele's signature was a precious commodity and there were dozens of boys who managed to get This precious signature. Over 30,000 spectators came to Ramat Gan. The school students, mainly from Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv, finished their studies that day long before the scheduled time.
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Pele (Photo: GettyImages)
Fella with the players of the Israel national team in Ramat Gan (photo: official website, the website of the football association)
The coach of the mixed team was the Hungarian Ignatius Molnar, who in those days was the coach of Hapoel PT. The Israeli team included: Yaakov Wisokar (Aharon Sherashtinsky), Reuven Yaft, Yitzhak Falschel, Yosef Goldstein, Shaul Matanya, Yehuda Rabiov, Shlomo Nahari (Boaz Koffman), Nahum Stelmech, Shia Glazer, Zachariah Ratsavi and Abshalom Ratsavi. The Santos lineup was: Lauriso, Mauro, DeHlamo, Gitilio, Brando, Blima, Dorval, Mango Vallio, Coutinho, Pele and Pepe. The referee of the match was Menachem Ashkenazi.
Already In the 10th minute, Santos and Pele silenced the crowd after Pele's onslaught and raised to the head of Coutinho who hit the ball into the goal. 7 minutes passed and Pele celebrated his historic goal in Israel. He defeated Goldstein in an aerial battle, bursting forward with a quick dribble and from a distance of 25 meters with the pen Forcefully the ball in.
In the 22nd minute, Pele left a ball for Dorval, the latter kicked from the edge of the area into the upper net and made it 0:3 which was accompanied by a festive "someone" of the conqueror.
Coach Molner was angry with the goalkeeper Wissoker and ordered him to leave the goal.
His place was taken by Aharon Shreshtinsky from Maccabi Tel Aviv. As the second half began, the stands cheered. In the 47th minute, Boaz Koffman collected a ball into the center of the box, where the "Golden Head", Nahum Stelmach, rose high above Dhalamo and Brando, and hit the ball into the Brazilian goal and set 3:1.
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Pele (Photo: GettyImages)
20 minutes to the end of the game, the audience was on its feet and cheered for Pela who finished his part in the show.
At the end of the game dozens of journalists were waiting for Pele.
After asking to be allowed to take a shower, Pele said: "I was substituted because on this tour Santos have many games. I did my part and the other players should be given a chance to prove their ability and show the Israeli audience that Santos' replacements do not fall short of my ability."
Pele said about the outstanding Israeli players: "The Israelis linger too long with the ball and spend time thinking instead of kicking and passing. The two players who stood out on the field and who could, without a doubt, find a place in any European team, were the right midfielder (Nahum Stelmach) and the central striker (Shia Glazer )".
Asher Goldberg's column was first published on the Football Association website in January 2012.
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