{"id":55621,"date":"2022-12-29T11:38:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-29T19:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=55621"},"modified":"2022-12-29T11:38:17","modified_gmt":"2022-12-29T19:38:17","slug":"pele-brazils-mighty-soccer-king-has-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=55621","title":{"rendered":"Pel\u00e9, Brazil\u2019s mighty soccer king, has died"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"dateline\"><strong>SAO PAULO<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Pel\u00e9, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and <span style=\"color: #000000;\">became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died Thursday. He was 82.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The standard-bearer of \u201cthe beautiful game\u201d had undergone treatment for colon cancer since 2021. The medical center where he had been hospitalized for the last month said he died of multiple organ failure as a result of the cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cAll that we are is thanks to you,\u201d his daughter Kely Nascimento wrote on Instagram. \u201cWe love you endlessly. Rest in peace.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">His agent, Joe Fraga, confirmed his death: \u201cThe king has passed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Widely regarded as one of soccer\u2019s greatest players, Pel\u00e9 spent nearly two decades enchanting fans and dazzling opponents as the game\u2019s most prolific scorer with Brazilian club Santos and the Brazil national team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">His grace, athleticism and mesmerizing moves transfixed players and fans. He orchestrated a fast, fluid style that revolutionized the sport \u2014 a samba-like flair that personified his country\u2019s elegance on the field.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He carried Brazil to soccer\u2019s heights and became a global ambassador for his sport in a journey that began on the streets of Sao Paulo state, where he would kick a sock stuffed with newspapers or rags.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the conversation about soccer\u2019s greatest players, only the late Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are mentioned alongside Pel\u00e9.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Different sources, counting different sets of games, list Pel\u00e9\u2019s goal totals anywhere between 650 (league matches) and 1,281 (all senior matches, some against low-level competition.)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SAO PAULO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\u00a0Pel\u00e9, the Brazilian king of&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55622,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55621\/revisions\/55622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}