Just feeling off the names can make you feel excited. Garrincha,  Jairzinho, Rivaldo, Socrates, Zico, Ronaldo and, of course, Pele, the greatest player that the world has ever seen.

 

Pele and the World Cup go together like strawberries and cream, horse and carriage, Ant and Dec. He first shot to global prominence at the 1958 tournament in Sweden when, as a teenager, he inspired his country to their first-ever World Cup title. He missed the 1962 tournament through injury [although he was later awarded a winners' medal after Brazil retained the title in Chile] and was kicked out of the event in England in 1966 before returning spectacularly in Mexico in 1970 as part of the greatest team to grace the game. He scored one goal and set-up two others as Brazil beat Italy 4-1 in the final.

 

Pele is regularly voted the greatest sportsman in history following a career that saw him score over a 1,000 goals, including 77 in 92 internationals. Regrets? Pele should have none. But the great man does have one that he revealed to me when I spoke to him during my visit last month to Rio, where he was helping promote Rio's bid to host the 2016 Olympics. "I will always wish that I had played in the Olympics and, even better, won a gold medal," he told me. "That will always be a great regret of mine."

 

Pele is not alone in his angst. It is one shared by 200 million other Brazilians, who every four years pray that they will finally win the Olympic football tournament, the only major title that has eluded them. But, after their latest failure in Beijing last year, they are still waiting. What made it worse is that this latest defeat came at the hands in the semi-final of bitterest rivals, Argentina, who went on to retain the title they had won four years earlier in Athens. Brazil had to settle for the bronze medal, with a 3-0 victory over Belgium in the third place play-off, for the second time in four Olympics. It added to the silver medals won in 1984 and 1988 but that was of little consolation to a nation plunged into collective mourning at the final whistle of the the defeat of their team against Argentina.

 

No-one was more disappointed than Ronaldinho, the star of Brazil's team that won the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea and who has twice voted as the world's player of the year by FIFA, but who, like Pele, is seemingly destined to retire without an Olympic gold medal. “At the moment there’s nothing that could cheer me up, the disappointment is huge," he said at the end of the game against Argentina. "I don’t know why but at the Olympics, Brazil always fail."

 

I thought of that earlier this year when Craig Brown, the former manager of Scotland, called the Olympic football tournament a "Mickey Mouse" event. "It's a nothing tournament," he claimed. Brown was only echoing comments made by Gordon Smith, the chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, who claimed that football had no place in the Olympics because it is not the pinnacle of a players career.

 

Tell that to Nwankwo Kanu (pictured), who has enjoyed a spectacular career that has seen him win the European Cup with Ajax, the Premier League with Arsenal and the FA Cup at Portsmouth. But he has no doubt what the highlight of his career has been. It was winning the Olympic gold medal with Nigeria at Atlanta in 1996. "It was the most beautiful moment of my life," Kanu said.

 

Brown and Smith's opposition to Britain being able to enter teams [men and women's] at London 2012 and the subsequent unsatisfactory compromise announced yesterday that means only English players will be considered ensures that that opportunity to potentially feel the emotions that Kanu so enjoyed will be denied to dozens of Britain's best young players when the final is played at Wembley in just over three years time.

 

There is an unfortunate belief in this country that if Britain is not involved in a sport then it does not matter. Hence, Olympic sports such as handball and volleyball that are followed passionately abroad and are hugely popular, are dismissed as being as of no relevance. It is the same with Olympic football, it appears.

 

The tournament may be a "Mickey Mouse" event in Scotland (zero World Cup wins) but I can assure Mr Brown and Mr Smith that it means rather a lot in Brazil (five World Cup wins).  That is why the football tournament in 2012 will be one of the highlights and eagerly anticipated events of the London Olympics and why a certain Pele hopes to be there at Wembley cheering on Brazil to victory.

 

Duncan Mackay is the publisher and editor of insidethegames. He was the 2004 British Sports Journalist of the Year.

 

Comments


How refreshing to see an English journalist who realises that
football does not begin and end with  the Premiership. As a a
Brazilian living in Bristol, I know how much an Olympic gold
medal would mean to the country. When we win in London in 2012
Brazilians will celebrate just as enthusiastically as we will do
when we win the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
By Internationalist

30 May 2009 at 15:10pm

"Squawk!", said Pele, all cheery like. "You've got to love the
old Duncan Mackay!"
By arthur lemon

31 May 2009 at 22:12pm

Why are we spending so much time caring about what Scotland
thinks? They are a third-rate football nation that no-one gives
two hoots about...
By Fed up Englishman

4 June 2009 at 11:56am