From: Daniele Paserman
Subject: Re: FIFA Club of the Cenruty - complete list 
Date: 2000-12-21
 

> : >Can you imagine 10 year old Pele asking his parents to travel
> : >almost
> : >1000 miles from Bauru to Belo Horizonte (10 hours or more of train
> : >from Bauru to SP, plus another 14 hours of train from SP to BH), to
> : >watch England play...

Well, here is how it went, based on the written statement of the
young Cagao, who happened to be Pele's best friend. This account
can be found in Cagao's memories "The Perfect Goal", available
from www.amazon.br (unfortunately it's in Portuguese and it's
been out of stock for the past 5 years, but I'm sure you can get
a copy if you try hard enough):

Bauru, 1950:

Young Pele`: Daddy, can I ask you something?

Mr. do Nascimiento: What is it Edson? Hurry up, because my back
is hurting from all the pineapples I picked today. And beware,
I'm not going to give you money to buy a new football after
you smashed the kitchen window with the last one I bought you!

Edson: No, no, daddy, I was wondering if you could take me to Rio ...

Mr. do Nascimiento: Forget about it!

Edson: Daddy, it's the World Cup, please!

Mr. do Nascimiento: Mickey Mouse tournament. We all know the best
futebol is played in South America.

Edson: But daddy, it's Spain against England. England, do you get it?

Mr. do Nascimiento: Who the f**k is England?

Edson: England. In-ger-land. The masters of the game! Matthews, Finney,
Mortensen, Lawton. Daddy pleeeease!!!

Mr. do Nascimiento: How do you know about these guys?

Edson: Well, I met this guy from FIFA, Joao Have-something, and he
promised me he'd buy me a ticket to England if I said that
everybody in Brazil knows that we all learned our football from
Matthews.

Mr. do Nascimiento: Matthews can't tie Zizinho's shoelaces. Forget
about it Edson: we are not traveling 12 hours to Rio to watch a bunch
of nobodies.

Edson: But you never take me to watch Zizinho either!

Mr. do Nascimiento: Edson Arantes, we are not going to Rio, period.
You can  listen to your Matthewzinho on the radio. Tomorrow, you help
me pick pineapples. And no kicking pineapples around like last time!
You remember what happened to Cagao's father when you wagered with
your friend that you would hit him on his head  with a pineapple
kicked from 25 meters? You knocked him out for more than a week...
(Not to mention what Cagao did to my butt...)

Edson (sulking): Oh, I'll go to the Maracana one day...then I'll
show you!

Daniele