About Pele.... The Best!!!

Pelé is the first soccer player to achieve massive international acclaim. His name is regularly mentioned today, more than a quarter century after his retirement.Apart from his popularity, Pelé's life story is the ultimate soccer dream. He began as a poor boy from the slums in Tres Coracoes, Brazil but earned fame and fortune through his talent on the pitch. Pelé's father, Dondinho, was very influential in his son's success. Dondinho was a former footballer and made sure to pass over his knowlege to young Pelé. This paid off and by the age of 15, Pelé was signed by Santos. His international debut followed just a year after on the 7th of July 1957 against Argentina at the legendary Maracanã stadium. Merely at the age of 17, Pelé was recruited to Brazil's World Cup squad. At World Cup 1958 in Sweden, he first gained attention after his goal against Wales which clinched Brazil to the next round. Pelé proved that he wasn't a fluke in the following match, scoring three goals on France. By the tournament's final, Brazilian coach Vicente Feola was confident in the talented 17-year old. His two goals at the 1958 World Cup final ascertained his status as a soccer superstar.Thanks to Pelé's sensational scoring, his club Santos earned the Intercontinental Cup in 1962 and 1963.

At the 1962 World Cup in Chile, Pelé missed out most of the tournament due to an injury. Brazil still managed to win the trophy. At World Cup 1966, Pele was once again was forced to permanently leave the pitch after being ferociously tackled.After England 1966, many began to doubt the Brazilian soccer player and his superstar status. He made a triumphant return at Mexico 1970 by dazzling audiences worldwide. This was the first World Cup broadcast in color and was shown across an unprecedented number of countries. In front of over 100,000 spectators at Azteca Stadium and millions of TV viewers, Pelé scored the first goal of the 1970 World Cup final. That opened the floodgates to Brazil's crushing 4-1 victory and reclaimed Pele as the "King of Soccer".Later in the 1970's, Pelé was signed by the New York Cosmos in the North American Soccer League. He eventually retired as the only player with over 1000 goals in professional football. Pele was the first commercial superstar of non-commercial soccer.

Quick Facts
Name : Edson Arantes do Nascimento
Starting Number : #10
Born : 23 October 1940 in Tres Coracoes, Brazil
Nationality : Brazilian
Height : 172 cm / 5 feet 7 inches
Weight :

67 kg / 150 pounds
Family Status : Has a son goalkeeper
Foot : Right
Teams : Santos (Brazil)New York Cosmos (USA)
Nicknames : Pele or PeléThe King
Skills : Dribbling, finishing

Pelé (1940– )
Brazilian footballer and the sport's most famous player. A prolific goal scorer, he appeared in four World Cup competitions 1958–70 and led Brazil to three championships (1958, 1962, 1970).
Career highlights
International appearances (1957–71)91 (77 goals)
World Cup1958, 1962, 1970
Copa Libertadores1961–62
Brazilian Cup1961–64, 1968
World Club Championship1962–63
Awards
FIFA Footballer of the Centuryawarded in 2000
He spent most of his playing career with the Brazilian team Santos, before ending it with the New York Cosmos in the USA. In a poll conducted by the International Soccer Hall of Fame in 1997 he was voted the world's greatest footballer. Also in 1997 he received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II of the UK. In 2000, he was awarded jointly with Diego Maradona the title of FIFA Footballer of the Century.

Do Messi Replace C. Ronaldo?????

Frank Lampard has highlighted Manchester United's vulnerability following the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The Chelsea midfielder believes that Lionel Messi is "the only player" who could have replaced the Portuguese but it would have been virtually impossible for United to buy the winger from Barcelona.

United lost 1-0 at newly promoted Burnley on Wednesday night and the reigning Premier League champions had won by that same narrow margin against Birmingham City at Old Trafford three days earlier. Sir Alex Ferguson's side have been laboured in these matches and Lampard feels that they have no one with the mercurial talent of Ronaldo. "Lionel Messi is probably the only player who would do it," he said.

Lampard also drew a comparison with Chelsea, who have full points from their opening two matches. "It's one of our big pluses this year that we didn't lose a big player," he observed.

Michael Carrick had a penalty saved at Turf Moor that could have given United an equaliser and it was inevitable that people speculated on what would have happened if the Portuguese was still in charge of those duties. "Ronaldo would probably have scored it," said Lampard.

The England midfielder remembers the impact Ronaldo regularly had during the bulk of his six-year spell at Old Trafford. "You'd put on the telly," he said, "and see that he'd scored and they had won 1-0 or 2-0. And he had his free-kicks, which were very special."

Lampard insisted that he was not shocked by United's defeat to Burnley. "We all know how hard these games are early in the season," he stressed. "You don't want to play the team who have just come up because they fly out of the blocks to try and get the points in the bag. It wasn't completely unexpected. I thought it might be a difficult game. It's good for us because we've now got a little bit of a lead over United and Liverpool. It's nice to have your nose in front."

Lampard appreciates, too, that Ferguson cannot even attempt to find a successor to Ronaldo. "I don't think he'll look to replace him," said the Stamford Bridge player. "He'll look to make the team strong as a whole because that's all the only thing they can do."

Frank Lampard was speaking at an event at Wembley to mark the participation of over one million children in the FA Tesco Skills Programme since its inception in 2007

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A guide to betting on footballThe phrase ‘there are lies, damned lies, and statistics, popularized by Mark Twain the author of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is often used when governments try to reinforce weak arguments with statistics. Not so when it comes to soccer betting. This guide to football (soccer) betting describes how you can use vital statistics to predict the outcome of football matches so that you win more than you lose. Betting on sporting events is more fun if you win, right?Between 1% and 5% of all the people who bet on sports win. Out of all those billions of dollars only a very small amount is ever paid as winnings. Bookmakers have access to the best sources of information. They know how many goals have been scored at home and away, corners conceded and won, fouls made and the list goes on. Based on this information they can compile very precise odds for the games that are played. Using the same information it is possible to turn the tables on the bookmakers. To avoid getting too involved with probabilities, variance and other scary statistical terms you can just take a basic approach by looking at some simple numbers.A basic way to use this information would be to look at freely available data on a website like soccerway.com or the statistics section of the bookmaker StanJames’ website. Using the numbers for goals scored in games played home and away you can calculate average goals scored and conceded with certain match ups. How do you choose which match ups to bet on? A good betting market to choose from would be the goals over / under market. You bet whether there will be more or less than 2 goals. Look for teams who are good in attack and teams poor in defence. Using the numbers: teams good in attack are obviously ones who score more goals, but also who win more corners. Look for high goals and corners conceded for teams poor in defence. For example, Manchester United have a solid defence and are also good in attack. Playing against teams both poor in attack and with average defence, such as Sunderland, you have a recipe for high goal totals. In which case go for an overs goal bet. If Man United are playing Chelsea or Arsenal, these teams being comparable in terms of attacking prowess and defence capabilities, how many goals do you think there will be? If you’d guessed a lower goal total you’d be right. How does using this technique work in practice? Very well if you avoid games where key players are injured, which could affect the probabilities. In addition a thought needs to be spared for which bookmaker to use. Using systems like this increase your chances of getting more winning bets. One major factor in any betting strategy is the odds or price available for placing these bets. Bookmakers have to make a profit which will always affect profits.

Juan Joman Returns To Argentine Team

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 -- Former FC Barcelona and Villarreal playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme could make a sensational return from international retirement and play for Argentina, according to the vice president of Boca Juniors.

Juan Roman RiquelmeJuan Carlos Crespi has sensationally revealed that the Boca Juniors playmaker could make a dramatic return to the Argentine national side and has asked both Diego Armando Maradona, currently the Argentine national team coach, and Riquelme to end their differences and work together.He told 'Mundo Boca' of Radio El Mundo AM 1070:"Roman will be the '10' of the national team at the World Cup. He is indispensable on the field. We have to persuade them to team-up, because [Diego] Maradona and [Juan Roman] Riquelme have the obligation to be in the national team."The Maradona-Riquelme chapter is not closed, because the national team doesn't belong to neither of the two, but to the Argentine people. All of the projects assigned to achieve the objectives will take place.""Both [Maradona and Riquelme] are necessary. They have to leave their prejudices behind. All of us Argentines have to convince Maradona that Roman is necessary for the squad, because you can't buy experience at the end of the street."