Fox Sports features an interview with Pele in which the Brazilian soccer legend discusses his country’s disappointing performance in the World Cup. Brazil was slaughtered in the semifinal game by eventual champion Germany, 7-1, and then lost in the consolation game to the Netherlands. Pele calls the Brazilian result before the home audience “a disaster.”
Pele believes the national team was “not well prepared.” But given the solid nucleus of players, Brazil should be back in contention four years from now, he believes. “The player, the best player of Brazil, who was Neymar, got an injury, didn’t play,” Pele points out. “I say we have to keep the same team, same group, I think we’re going to have a good team because the average age of the players is 23, 24, 22. We have time to adjust.”
Pele confesses that he thinks television steals from the excitement of soccer. “I used to listen to all the games, the World Cup, on the radio,” Pele confesses. “Then the emotion is more strong than now. Now you see the TV, now you see the crowds. This is different emotion, but football…. I still enjoy football, no doubt.”
Pele played for Brazil in four World Cup tournaments, emerging victorious in three of them, between 1958 and 1970.
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