Pelé’s glittering legend was forged in the heat of the 1970 World Cup final
Soccer is rarely just soccer, and soccer players are rarely just soccer players. Pelé was a brilliant striker, a player of grace and imagination, with explosive pace and extraordinary poise, but that is not why his death on Thursday caused such a widespread sense of loss. Nor are the three World Cups or the two Copa Libertadores he won. To answer the question of why …