International Football
FOOTBALL ALL-TIME GREAT, PELE, CLOCKS 79
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
World’s greatest footballer of all time, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé clocks 79 this Wednesday.
At
17 years and 239 days, he became the youngest scorer at the World Cup when he
found the net in 1958 duel with Wales.
Five days later he added another record as the youngest player to score a World Cup hat trick in the Sweden ’58 duel with France.
He went on to become the first player with three World Cup winning medals after successes with Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
He is so popular that he is well known and had met with several heads of states.
On one instance, he was meeting with the US President, Ronald Reagan who introduced self thus:
“My name is Ronald Reagan, I’m the President of the United States of America. But you don’t need to introduce yourself, because everyone knows who Pelé is.”
In 1999, he was voted World player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics and along with Argentina’s Diego Maradona, he won the FIFA Player of the Century Award.
Still in 1999, the International Olympic Committee elected Pelé as Athlete of the Century. Goal scoring was his habit, as he became the most successful league goal-scorer in the world, scoring 1281 goals in 1363 games, which included unofficial friendlies and tour games.
During his playing days, Pelé was for a period the best-paid athlete in the world.
He began his playing career for Santos Club of Brazil at age 15 and the national team at 16. He was in the Santos club that visited Nigeria in 1969.
He was globally acknowledged as the one who caused a two-day truce in the Nigerian Civil war to enable the two warring groups watch Pelé play.
He has visited Nigeria many times, the last being in 2000 shortly after the Sydney Olympics.
One of his most traumatic experiences was in February 1976 when he, along with some international tennis players was in Nigeria during the abortive coup against the regime of General Murtala Muhammed.
The sportsmen had to seek diplomatic channels to sneak out of Nigeria as all borders were closed.
Even with the advent of modern day strikers, Pelé with 77 goals in 92 games, is still the all-time leading for Brazil.
Pelé also featured as a prisoner of war in the Hollywood classic ‘Escape to Victory’.
In spite of the athleticism in him, Pelé has health challenges. He attended the draw for the Russia 2018 on wheelchair. He also for long has just one kidney as in 1977 the Brazilian media reported that he had his right kidney removed.
In November 2012, Pelé underwent a successful hip operation. Early this year, Pelé collapsed from exhaustion and was taken to hospital.
Former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has been named the new head coach of the England national team, the country’s Football Association said in a statement on Wednesday.
The German, who is England’s third foreign manager, after Sweden’s Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello, will be assisted by Englishman Anthony Barry, the statement added.
“We are thrilled to have hired Thomas Tuchel, one of the best coaches in the world and Anthony Barry who is one of the best English coaches to support him,” FA CEO Mark Bullingham said.
Tuchel replaces Lee Carsley, England’s under-21 manager, who has been in temporary charge since the resignation of Gareth Southgate after England’s defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final in July.
-Reuters
German Thomas Tuchel has been appointed head coach of the England national team on Wednesday.
Born: Aug. 29, 1973 in Krumbach, Germany.
PLAYING CAREER
* Tuchel played for his local club TSV Krumbach, before moving to FC Augsburg’s academy at the age of 15.
* He never played for Augsburg’s senior side and joined German second division team Stuttgarter Kickers in 1992.
* After eight league appearances for Kickers, Tuchel moved to fourth-tier SSV Ulm.
* Tuchel made 69 league appearances for Ulm as a central defender before he was forced to retire in 1998 at the age of 25 due to a knee injury.
COACHING CAREER
* Tuchel began his coaching career with a youth team role at VfB Stuttgart in 2000, working with future Germany internationals Mario Gomez and Holger Badstuber.
* He returned to Augsburg and took charge of their reserve team for the 2007-08 season.
* Tuchel was appointed Mainz 05 manager in 2009, replacing compatriot Juergen Klopp.
* He guided Mainz to Bundesliga stability during his five-year stint at the club, gaining plaudits for his team’s high energy, attacking style of play.
* Tuchel took over from Klopp as Borussia Dortmund coach in 2015.
* He led Dortmund to a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2017 German Cup final. He was sacked by Dortmund three days later.
* Tuchel joined Paris St Germain in 2018 on a two-year contract, replacing Unai Emery.
* He won two Ligue 1 titles, including a domestic quadruple in his second season, and guided the club to their first Champions League final, where they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich.
* Tuchel was sacked by PSG on Christmas Eve in 2020, despite the club finishing top of their Champions League group and sitting third in the Ligue 1 table.
* He was named Chelsea manager in January 2021 on an initial 18-month contract following the dismissal of Frank Lampard.
* Tuchel revived the team’s Premier League season and guided the London club to the Champions League final, where they beat Manchester City. Chelsea also won the Super Cup and Club World Cup.
* Chelsea sacked Tuchel in September 2022 following a shock 1-0 defeat at Dinamo Zagreb in their opening Champions League group game.
* Bayern Munich appointed Tuchel to succeed Julian Nagelsmann in March last year.
* Bayern decided to let Tuchel go at the end of the 2023-24 season despite a contract until 2025. Tuchel steered Bayern to the Bundesliga title in 2022-23, but they finished the last campaign without any silverware for the first time in more than a decade.
* Tuchel will become England’s third foreign manager after Sweden’s Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello.
* Tuchel will take over the team in January ahead of the qualification campaign for the 2026 World Cup.
-Reuters
Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Mateus Mane has become hot property after Portugal named the 17-year-old in their Under-18 squad on Friday, one day after England included him in their squad.
Mane was called up for a second successive England youth camp by coach Liam Bramley before the team travel to Marbella for a four-team tournament this month.
Mane is eligible for both teams having played for the Portugal Under-17 side last season. As the Under-18 team is a non-UEFA age group, both nations are entitled to call the player up.
He made his England international debut last month against the Portugal Under-18 side who have named Mane in their squad for a four-nation tournament this month.
With both tournaments running concurrently, Mane can only play for one team and Wolves and England confirmed he would feature in Bramley’s side.
Reuters has contacted Portugal’s football association for clarification.
While players with multiple nationalities have played for more than one country if they are eligible, they are not allowed to switch allegiances at senior level – unless they have played only in friendly matches for the first country.
-Reuters
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