Messi here, Messi there, Messi everywhere. Even two weeks after the World Cup final, there is hardly another topic. In the bakery, at the regulars’ table, on a walk with the dog. excitement everywhere.
This is overshadowed only by the death of Pele. About parting with a man who, along with Muhammad Ali, was the hero of our youth. Thanks to him, we knew that football is played all over the world. Thanks to him, we knew that there is a huge country Brazil.
The beauty of the game, “Jogo Bonito”, the dancing lightness of being. It originates in the realm of the king. In our youthful imagination in Brazil, there were only boys who played football all day long at Copacabana. And prancing women with feather boas, dancing samba, dream.
Pele was more than a hero
Thanks to Pele, Brazil has become a dream destination for all football fans. Pele has been around for as long as we can remember. And thanks to him, we also know that football is a chance for social development for many people.
Since he never had shoes as a child, Pelé learned how to make a shoemaker. And later, when he moved to the New York Cosmos through Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, he also put the US on the football map. They paid him $4.5 million for two years. More than he has earned in his entire career before.
Along with Franz Beckenbauer, he also pioneered commercialization. And unlike Diego, Maradona managed to go down in history as an eternal gentleman. But Pele also had countless romances and was married three times. Pele has existed in our imagination since the ball rolled. Now there is one less monument. Time takes away all the heroes from us.
The king is dead, long live the king. And his name is now indisputably Lionel Messi. He is the man of the year. His name is becoming a household name. Pele, the mystical four letters are so ingrained in our heads that even with progressive dementia, we cannot forget them and can call them up at the touch of a button.
Now comes Messi. Five other magic letters are fixed in all convolutions of the brain. And follow you deep into the night.
Suddenly you dream of childhood. When, as a servant, you had to go to the morning messi five times a week. There the messidien filled the Pastor’s World Cup trophy with white wine. And I accompanied the ritual with a bell.
Then you keep dreaming. He suddenly spends his holidays in Messipotamia. Or in the Scottish Highlands. In Loch Messi. Or in Frankfurt Buhmessy.
Or you dream of a new fancy car. Messies, for example. Yes, you have become the word Messi. And it’s not my fault.
PS: You can send this speaker to your brass friends if you like.