Football
The king of failed predictions. “Pele’s Curse” ruined players and entire teams
The legendary player was well versed in football, but clearly did not know how to predict the future.
On Thursday, the football world was shocked by sad, although expected news. The legendary Pele, who suffered from a serious illness for a long time, passed away. In history, he will remain a brilliant footballer who, even against the background of other Brazilians, showed something unimaginable. However, the King of Football had another talent – the Brazilian was a recognized master of unfulfilled forecasts.
No Georgy Cherdantsev could compare with him in terms of inaccurate assumptions. If at the next World Cup some Pele team liked, its prospects could be safely put an end to. But if a titled player did not believe in some team, then its chances increased dramatically.
And this is good news for the Russian team!
African football triumph
Pele often gave predictions for promising players. But to hear a compliment from the King of Football was like a curse for them. At least, Nii Lamptey or Nick Barmby, whom the Brazilian gave out advances, never grew into world stars. Yes, and Robinho, bright start in Europe, quickly disappeared from the radar. But not only individual players were unlucky after advances from the legend. Predictions of success for national teams at the World Championships, as a rule, turned into their complete failure.
– This team deserves to be called a kind of American dream. Colombians have to be the best,” Pele said before the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
There may have been some prerequisites for such a bold forecast. In 1993, Colombia took the bronze of the America’s Cup, but at the tournament in the USA everything ended badly for the team, and for the defender Andres Escobar, it was completely tragic. The South Americans did not leave the group, finishing last. A football player who scored an own goal in an important game was shot dead. It is curious that the Brazilians then took the World Cup, in whose success the King of Football for some reason did not really believe.
Four years later, Pele made another incorrect prediction. At the World Cup in France, where Brazil reached the final and the hosts became the champions, he predicted the triumph of another European team. The three-time world champion made a bet on Spain, calling it the main favorite of the tournament. Something similar to the championship match “Red Fury” gave out in the final game of the group stage, defeating Bulgaria with a score of 6:1. True, before that, the Spaniards managed to concede to Nigeria and share points with Paraguay. The final third place in the group did not allow me to dream of medals.
In the treasury of Pele’s predictions of the 20th century, you should definitely add the “triumph of African football.” The Brazilian promised that before 2000 one of the national teams of the black continent would win the World Cup. Only in 2022 did the Moroccan team get as close as possible to the medals, and even then it remained fourth at the end of the tournament in Qatar.
fatal prediction
In the new century, Pelé continued to make false predictions, starting with the 2002 World Cup, which was won by the Brazilian team. The three-time world champion estimated the chances of the team of Luis Felipe Scolari extremely low, saying that the team would not leave the group.
The Selesao’s rivals in the group stage were the teams of Turkey, China and Costa Rica, and therefore the assumption of the former football player could only surprise. The Brazilians defeated all competitors, and two matches ended in crushing victories. In the playoffs, Ronaldo and partners knocked out Belgium, England and Turkey, and defeated Germany in the final.
By the way, Pele did not guess the composition of the participants in the 2002 World Cup finals at all, assuming that Argentina and France would play there. Both giants in the end did not even make it to the playoffs. The prediction for the Chinese team was also fatal, from which the Brazilian was waiting for an exit from the group. The debut of the Asians turned out to be not so bright, to put it mildly. The last place in the quartet, not a single point and not a single goal scored.
“Let’s take the sixth title in Russia”
In 2014, Pelé took away hope from Brazilian football fans for another four years by sharing his next prediction on social networks after a devastating defeat to Germany.
Congratulations Germany. We will take our sixth title in Russia,” Pele said.
Probably, the Brazilian fans, who knew by that time how the forecasts of the legendary fellow countryman work, were not very happy. Neymar and partners for the time being really looked good in Russia, but stumbled in the quarterfinals, losing to Belgium. And shortly before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, Pele issued his, as it turned out, the last prediction of the results of his native team. The ability to give unfulfilled prophecies did not betray the King of Football this time either.
Photo: Brazil at the 2018 World Cup (after losing to Belgium)
“I can’t wait for our team to take the field. You may call me self-confident, but I feel that we will see the victory of Brazil again, wrote the King of Football on social networks.
By the way, Pele also once spoke about the Russian national team, saying that our team will win the football world championship when the Brazilians win the ice hockey world championship. Given the “accuracy” of most other forecasts, we do not need to wait for the transformation of “ball wizards” into “puck wizards” to triumph in football.
Source: Sportbox
Thomas Astudillo is a sports journalist and author who writes for Sportish. He has a deep love and knowledge of sports, and is known for his engaging and informative writing on the latest sports news and events.