OLIVER HOLT: Brazil weeps for Pele as mourners file past king of the beautiful game’s open casket

There is a neighborhood in Santos called Canal 6. It takes its name from a ravine of stagnant water, clogged with plastic bags and cans and squares of old carpet.

Walk through the center of Avenida Coronel Joaquim Montenegro where, at number 25, behind a tall sliding gate, Doña Celeste, Pelé’s hundred-year-old mother, is attended by her family and friends.

The street was quiet yesterday morning. Some locals slowly walked onto the beach in shorts and flip flops. A lady in an Argentina shirt with the name Lionel Messi on the back was walking her dog and cafe owners were spraying the sidewalks in front of her business.

The only sign of the chaos that was about to ensue was a banner hanging in front of number 25. ‘Obrigado Rei,’ it read. Thanks King.

Walk the middle of Avenida Coronel Joaquim Montenegro where, at number 25, behind a tall sliding gate, Doña Celeste, Pelé’s hundred-year-old mother, is attended by her family and friends.

However, by noon, Channel 6 had become the focal point of the funeral procession for the greatest soccer player that ever lived.

Where before there was peace, now there was barely controlled chaos as thousands of supporters crowded in front of the doors of Doña Celeste’s house, waving flags, praying, crying and clapping and waiting for the fire truck carrying the coffin of Pele.

More than 230,000 mourners had filed past Pelé’s open casket at Vila Belmiro, the stadium a few kilometers away where he played for Santos for 18 years and made the team and the city synonymous with his greatness.

Among the last to pay their respects was the newly elected Brazilian president, Lula. Once he was gone, Pelé’s coffin was carried out of the stadium and loaded aboard a fire truck, to be taken on its final journey.

The truck inched through tens of thousands of fans lining the streets and headed for the beaches on the Santos waterfront before turning left next to Canal 6.

At number 25, relatives had appeared on the balcony. Some thought they had seen Doña Celeste among them, but it became clear that she was Pele’s sister, María Lucía, who led the crowd in a moving rendition of the Lord’s Prayer.

The street was quiet yesterday morning. Some locals slowly walked onto the beach in shorts and flip flops.

The only sign of the chaos that was about to ensue was a banner hanging in front of number 25. ‘Obrigado Rei,’ it read. ‘Thanks King’

Brazilians have been saddened by the news that Dona Celeste, who is believed to be suffering from dementia, does not realize her son is dead and did not appear on the balcony like the fire truck, preceded by hordes of Santos fans. who waved giant flags. and police motorcyclists, inched up the opposite side of Channel 6 and then turned to stop in front of number 25.

He stood there for a few minutes while Pele’s family and friends stood on the balcony and waved from the windows above and wept and comforted each other.

This part of the funeral procession was a reminder that Brazil was laying a son, a father and a grandfather to rest, not just a man who had won three World Cups for his country and become the personification of the beautiful game. .

Soon the fire truck was on its way. He returned to the promenade and then to the Memorial Necropole Ecumenica, a vertical cemetery within sight of Vila Belmiro, where he was buried in a family tomb on the ninth floor.

And in a way, that marked the end of the period of mourning for the man who brought so much joy to so many soccer fans around the world.

In other ways, the mourning for him continued. He was most immediately present in the media’s savage criticism of former Brazilian greats, particularly the 1994 and 2002 World Cup-winning teams.

However, by noon, Channel 6 had become the focal point of the funeral procession for the greatest soccer player that ever lived.

While other internationals such as Clodoaldo, Falcao, Mauro Silva and Ze Roberto were able to pay their respects, those conspicuously absent from the two-day funeral ceremonies in Santos and did not visit Vila Belmiro included superstars Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Romario. and Kaka.

Many Brazilians were shocked and saddened by their decisions not to attend.

The unseemly dispute exposed some of the divisions that exist between the different generations of Brazilian greats and the resentment felt by many of the former players of the 1970 World Cup-winning team in Brazil for the way in which they have been ignored and forgotten by the country authorities. in recent years.

Brazilian media reported that a museum celebrating Pelé in Rio’s Maracanã stadium has been closed.

Current Brazilian striker Neymar, another former Santos player, was also criticized for not attending Pele’s funeral when Paris Saint-Germain teammates Kylian Mbappe and Achraf Hakimi found time to visit New York’s Barclays Center on Monday to watch the game between the Brooklyn Nets and the San Antonio Spurs.

Brazil is full of disappointment with its current crop of players after its shock exit from the World Cup last month in the quarterfinals.

That disappointment collided with the pain that gripped the country when Pelé died in a hospital in Sao Paulo last Thursday at the age of 82.

The pride in him and his three World Cup victories was in stark contrast to the dismay Brazilians feel at the direction their football has taken and how far it has strayed from the style that brought them so much success in the halcyon days of Pelé.

Where before there was peace, now there was barely controlled chaos as thousands of supporters crowded in front of the doors of Doña Celeste’s house, waving flags, praying, crying and clapping and waiting for the fire truck carrying the coffin of Pele.

More than 230,000 mourners had filed past Pelé’s open casket at Vila Belmiro, the stadium a few kilometers away where he played for Santos for 18 years and made the team and the city synonymous with his greatness.

When I played, the stars of Brazil played for Brazilian clubs. Now, they are going to Europe earlier and earlier in their careers. His latest home game wunderkind, Endrick, wasn’t even 16 and hadn’t played a game for his club’s first team, Palmeiras, when he was being courted by Real Madrid.

He has since agreed to sign with the Spanish giants and will miss out on Brazilian club soccer when he turns 18 in July next year.

It is another symbol of the way in which the strength of Brazilian soccer is being eroded by the financial power of European clubs. And as disillusionment with the situation grows, so does the polish on the reputation of Pele and his 1970s teammates.

I spoke to one of those teammates, Paulo Cezar Caju, who played England in that World Cup, at a cafe in Rio recently.

“One of the biggest disappointments for me was how Brazil played in 1994,” Caju said.

‘That was the beginning of the fall of Brazilian football, of art and of the king of sports. His style was very pragmatic and defensive, but because we won, that impacted what happened next. We gave all the importance to winning, but not to performing, not to playing wonderfully.

‘Brazil played in the 1982 World Cup and lost, but who cares, it was fantastic. Nobody talks about the 1994 side. We don’t celebrate that. Brazilian soccer has so far paid a high price for what happened in ’94 in terms of the quality of soccer played. The beautiful football is gone. It is very sad.’

Those feelings of nostalgia for a lost time followed the fire truck that carried Pelé’s coffin away from Canal 6 and the relatives waving from the balcony and Doña Celeste lying inside.

He passed the beaches again as he finally prepared to bury Pelé and there, on the golden sands of Santos, circle after circle of children played a game of stay-awake, laughing and dancing and juggling soccer balls in the sun. In them at least, the beautiful game lives on.