Hey bro, great pick, awesome!
Pele's comments:
21 June 2002, 11:54 Seoul - Tokyo
Pele: Korea is the team which can surprise everyone
by FIFAworldcup.com
Click to enlarge photo
Three tournament victories, over 1,000 career goals and recently voted in FIFAworldcup.com’s Dream Team, the name Pele symbolises football. O Rei sat down with FWC.com in Japan to talk about the shocks of the first Asian finals, the players of the tournament so far and Brazil’s surge towards another possible triumph.
FIFAworldcup.com: How do you explain the early elimination of favourites like France, Argentina and Portugal?
Everybody was surprised because these big names went home after the first stage, but that is football. Nothing was wrong with Argentina. They just lost one important match and didn’t win the last one. I don’t think Argentina played badly, they actually played quite well. It is sometimes dangerous to be considered as the best, the favourite because you mentally relax. I think this happened to France and Argentina, the two best teams. You cannot go into a game and say it will be easy – there are no easy games. When France lost to Senegal, they hit the woodwork twice and missed a lot of opportunities. Senegal scored one goal and won the match. Think of the match between Brazil and Costa Rica. We had a lot of problems, missed a lot of goals, but we won. And if you compare this game to the France - Senegal game, France should have won it.
FWC: What do you think of the 3 R´s in the Brazilian squad?
I think Ronaldo is only playing at 70% of his potential. He is afraid to push himself to 100%, but even at this level he makes a difference. He is a very quick player, a natural-born scorer, but he is not back to his best yet. In the last few years he went through a lot of problems, the Paris incident then a knee injury, and when he started to recover he again suffered an injury. This obviously impacted him from a psychological standpoint.
As I was also injured in 1966, six months ago I called Ronaldo and I told him how upset I was when I was injured in 1966. The press said that Brazil lost the World Cup because I was injured but then I played my best World Cup in 1970. I played the qualifying matches and the whole World Cup without having any problems. I told him he has this opportunity to be the best player of the World Cup. He’s now been playing for six-eight months without any serious problems. It was a psychological problem, he didn’t want to give 100% during the qualifying games. But even now he is still afraid, and only at 70% of his level. Sometimes he pushes, but sometimes he pulls back in a game.
Rivaldo scored the goal, but still did not play his normal game. He can player better than he’s played now. When it comes to Ronaldinho, I believe he can be one of the big stars of this tournament.
FWC: Do you think that Brazil is one of the favourites of the tournament now, like Mario Zagallo [1970 Brazil Cup-winning coach] thinks?
Brazil, Germany and England were at the second level of favourites five months ago. The first level was France, Argentina, Italy and Portugal, who all went home. And now the second level has become the first so I still prefer not to make Brazil the big favourite, you know (laughs…)
FWC: Among the four teams in the quarter-finals who are not the “usual suspects”, Korea, USA, Senegal, Turkey – which one is likely to go the furthest in this FIFA World Cup™?
I think Korea is the team which can surprise everyone here thanks to their physical condition and to the way they play. I was surprised, because normally when the home team is under a lot of pressure, they make mistakes. But Korea were the opposite. They gained confidence from the crowd, getting stronger and stronger. The team did not care about the pressure. I think Korea is a tough team to beat.
The USA were a surprise for many people but not for me, because I saw their preparation. Also the game against Mexico was not a surprise. The USA have played four times against Mexico this year and they have won four times.
Spain are a very good team, but it will be tough for them to beat Korea. Korea is the team out of these four that are most likely to advance. I think Korea have a better chance to beat Spain than the USA have to beat Germany.
FWC: With all the players and all the young people playing “soccer” in the USA, do you think that the USA being in the quarter-finals will help the sport in the country get both better and bigger?
All the youngsters in the USA play Soccer. As far as I know almost 25 million kids between eight and 20 are into soccer. This is a great potential for the future of the American team. And this is not only good for football in the USA but also for football all over the world. When I met with FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter, I told him that it is important to pay more attention to the underdeveloped countries because here lies the future of our sport. The USA, Korea and Japan show how important this is.
Another part of this are the foreign coaches. For example, Japan had some coaches from Brazil in its J-League and this was important to develop the sport. But at a certain point you need to give coaches from that country the chance to train the team. And I think this change, like it will take place in Japan now with Troussier’s contract coming to an end will be positive. But as we can see in England, sometimes a foreign coach can bring success, when he changes the game a bit. It is a good opportunity to bring a new mentality to a team.
FWC/ Among the last eight teams, could you tell us which players have made an impression on you:
I have not really decided who is the best player of the tournament. Nicky Butt from England impressed me a lot. He played very well at a very consistant level. But I have made a list of two players from all eight teams in the quarter-finals:
Brazil:
The two Ronaldos (Ronaldo and Ronaldinho). Ronaldinho is probably Brazil’s best player so far.
England:
Sol Campell is an unbelievable player. Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell, the two defenders from England impressed me very much. David Beckham has played, well, so-so if I might say.
Germany:
Michael Ballack is fantastic and Miroslav Klose surprised me.
USA:
Landon Donovan and John O´Brien. I have not seen O´Brien play before this tournament, but he plays very well - an excellent player.
Spain:
Raul played well, but Valeron is the best Spanish player for me. Raul arrived with a big name, but Valeron really impressed me.
Korea:
I was surprised by Seol Ki Hyeon and Yoo Sang Chul. I saw these two players in three games and they were fantastic.
Turkey:
Hasan Sas, who had an excellent game against Brazil, and Emre Bezologlu are the top players from Turkey.
Senegal:
Khalilou Fadiga is the best player, closely followed by El Hadji Diouf.
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