Maradona and Guardiola

Rarely do the club managers meet to discuss their players, not that there is anything wrong with such a meeting. But is surely more than a visit when Diego Maradona, the national team manager of Argentina meets with Pep Guardiola, the coach of Barcelona.  Later, it was reported that the discussions were about protecting Messi from injuries at the crucial time of the World Cup qualifiers. The two managers took note of the fact that Barca was launching an onslaught in the next season including playing a number of friendly matches in preparation. It is also feared that a good player such as Messi may be injured in such friendly matches and miss out on the real World Cup matches.

Therefore after watching the Barca players train, Diego had a private meeting with Guardiola and Messsi. This meeting was different from other club agreements with AFA in the past. It was agreed that Messi be limited in his participation in the international friendly. This is a problem that Maradona understands all too well given that he himself once played for Barca.

Quite often, the players return from such friendly matches tired and possibly injured.  This was actually what was behind the meeting between Maradona and Guardiola. This agreement may guarantee Messi an opportunity to leave a good record in Barca just as was the case with Maradona who played for the same team.  Messi needs to continue in the same steps and leave an impressive record in Barca.

The Life of The Greatest Soccer Player Ever: Pele

None of the modern day world cup players have ever come close to Pele’s record of 1200 goals throughout his career including several World Cup Championships. He is truly one of greatest players from 20th Century soccer.

One cannot help but notice the outstanding career of Pele even when there are other soccer icons such as Diego Maradona. Pele exceeds them all with a record of 1281 scores in 1360 games, almost 1 score per game.

His real name is Mr. Edson Arantes do Nascimento, but he was nicknamed Pele, a nickname that stuck with him since his school days. Pele was the youngest member of the 1958 Brazilian soccer team that won that year’s World Cup. He was actually just 17 years old when he scored 2 goals in the World Cup. 

Coming from poor Brazilian family, Pele owes part of his success to his father who was also a soccer player. He started to shine in Brazilian soccer when he played for the Brazilian team Santos helping them win the 1962-63 intercontinental World Cup qualifiers. He was to play in the 1962 and 1966 World Cup were it not for injury. Pele’s time came in 1970 when he was instrumental in helping Brazil win the world’s biggest soccer tourament.

Even in retirement, Pele continued to pull in the crowds and this was recognized when he signed a contract with New York’s Cosmos in a bid to increase crowds by gracing the American Soccer league. His foot skills and speed were without doubt instrumental in his successful football career.