San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
January, 1972. The best player the planet had ever produced was in Honduran territory. Edson Arantes do Nascimiento, acclaimed as ‘The King’, but better known as Pelé, began his adventure towards the lands of Honduras.
His ‘Majesty’, accompanied by the galactic Santos from Brazil, set foot on catracho soil 19 months after lifting the World Cup at the mythical Azteca stadium on June 21, 1970 in Mexico.
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The country was paralyzed by a 1.73-meter cosmic man, whom the lucky few delighted in seeing through black and white images in a box. The rest only knew him by name, since his legend was unfathomable at 32 years old.
Honduras waited for more than 13 years for the arrival of Jogo Bonito, since after Brazil was crowned World Champion in 1958, the Central Americans had the opportunity to see Pelé on their courts as part of the tours that the clubs carried out in those years. important in the world. The afternoon of Friday, January 28, 1972 was the day that the man considered by many to be the best player in history set foot on our sacred homeland.
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The extinct national airline SAHSA transferred his holiness, along with other current world champions, such as defenders Carlos Alberto and Orlando, midfielder Clodoaldo and striker Edú. The trip had a stopover in Panama, so that at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon they stopped first at the Toncontín airport in the capital Tegucigalpa.
The noise of his presence moved around 300 kilometers, as large caravans of vehicles paraded to see him when he got off the plane at ‘La Mesa’ Airport, also known as Ramón Villeda Morales, in the city of La Lima.
Around 3:20 pm, Pelé and the Santos entourage arrived with thousands of euphoric people waiting for them. His appearance was a problem due to the masses that prevented the crew from disembarking, so there was a wait as the fans were located on the stairs of the plane and the members of the municipality could not fulfill their mission: hand over the keys. from the city to ‘King’ Pelé.
These people had to enter the ship to give the sacred insignia to the soccer star, which was given by the alderman, Dr. Guillermo Alfonso Florentino, who later presented a special diploma declaring him an honorary citizen of San Pedro Sula.
The gesture was very nice, but after spending a lot of time inside the plane, Pelé became desperate, and with great sensitivity, he asked that the doors be opened, to which they put a ramp onto which he climbed and began to greet.
Pelé was dressed elegantly, with a gray jacket and shorts, a white long-sleeved bottom and a tie, leaving a sublime memory accompanied by his inextinguishable smile. The Honduran dream came true two weeks after what was planned.
14 days before his arrival, Real España, the team that made it possible for the Peixe to take off towards San Pedro Sula, suffered a giant rudeness by the board of directors of the sensational South American squad: they were left standing up. This was remembered by the former World Cup player in 1982, the iconic Honduran defender Jaime Villegas, who, when his cell phone rang, answered us, burst out laughing because he knew the reason for the call.
“It’s a miracle that I answered you, they’ve been calling me from all sides,” Don Jaime began the conversation, who marked Pelé in that historic match. “I barely remember, it was 50 years ago. What I keep in force is that Santos should have arrived two weeks before he came, “said ‘El Káiser’.
“The day they were supposed to play against us, Santos didn’t show up. Why? I don’t know, don’t ask me, I have no idea what lack of coordination there was. People felt cheated,” he recalled, mentioning that we even had visitors from neighboring countries to see the match.
Given this, Miguel Canahuati, president of Real España at that time, sent Manolo Muñoz (manager) to Colombia to make Santos sign a contract and thus fulfill his participation in the duel. With 25,000 US dollars between La Máquina and Fenafuth, the exhibition match was agreed for the afternoon of Sunday, January 30, 1972, at the Morazán stadium in the industrial capital.
One day after his arrival, on Saturday, the six-time champion of the Brasileirao enjoyed a training session at 10:30 in the morning prior to facing the Máquina aurinegra.
Numerous fans gathered at the Morazán, thinking that it would be the scene of the rehearsal, but their disappointment was great when they realized that it was carried out in the field of the military zone. However, a large number of fans went to the establishment to witness the training sessions that consisted of gymnastic exercises and a rally.
The night passed. It was Sunday and from 7 in the morning the first souls of 15,000 who gathered at the sports venue began to arrive.
A Real España reinforced with players from Motagua and Olimpia faced Santos with the best player on the face of the earth. Jaime Villegas carried the post of captain of the Honduran team, while in the other box it was the legendary defender Carlos Alberto.
“There was nervousness and joy at being up against the best striker in the world. The stadium was completely full, they put chairs around the field, it was the most expensive ticket”, remembers Villegas with a laugh.
– THE ELEVEN HEADLINES –
Santos (3): Augustine Eyebrows; Charles Albert, Paul, Oberdam (Orlando), The Charles; Jader, Leo, Nene, Blacksmith; Edu, Pele (Manoel Maria).
Royal Spain (1): Carlos ‘Macho’ Arrieta; Rigo Velásquez, Jaime Villegas, Luis Cruz, Enrique ‘Payique’ Espinoza; Pablo ‘Hammer’ Hernandez, Jorge ‘Perro’ Gonzalez, Mon Paz, Chico Handal; Da Silva (Bleer), Jorge ‘Indio’ Urquía (‘Macho’ Figueroa).
“I remember that Pelé, with Luis Cruz, left us talking to ourselves in a play”, commented Don Jaime with a laugh. “He outwitted me on a few occasions, he was a phenomenon, he is the best I have ever seen and the most complete. A very friendly and nice guy”, recalled El Káiser of that match cited at 3:30 in the afternoon, but at the request of the rival institution to protect the security of its members, it was delayed for half an hour.
El Morazán experienced the first goal for Santos scored by Ferreira after a pass from Edú at minute 15; Nené expanded to make it 2-0 four minutes later and the third Brazilian goal came at 60′ through Pelé, who had also scored from a set piece, but his goal was canceled since the free kick was indirect. For Real España, Pedro Caetano Da Silva discounted from the penalty spot at 53′.
José León ‘Chulampín’ Cedillos refereed the match that ended 3-1 in favor of a Santos who played at medium throttle, who did what he wanted on the Sampedrana court after the immense respect of the Catracho players who were in awe of his holiness footballer, according to the chronicle of Diario La Prensa by journalist Roberto Caballero. “In general terms, the game was what we expected, Santos playing without trouble and Spain very nervous at first, but which improved at the end,” the letter mentioned.
The center-back ‘Chulampín’ Cedillos starred in an anecdote that made Jaime Villegas laugh. “With ten minutes to go, the Brazilians began to call time for the game to end. He was ‘scrubbing’ a lot, then Chulampín gets angry and says – Oh, no! Don’t fuck! They are charging 25 thousand dollars, here they will spend the night playing. Take a dick!”, He counted.
40 minutes after the game ended, Pelé left the stadium and immediately left, in a special car, for his lodging place, which was the Motel Vitanza, on the outskirts of San Pedro Sula, where the Honduran Insurance Institution is currently located. Social and slept on the nights of January 28, 29 and 30, 1972, more than half a century ago.
“It was an overflowing attraction, forget it. Pelé cared for people, he was very attached to people, he never hid. He had no problem talking to the press, he even had a private interview with me, I was a boy, and when I was in front of him I was stunned. Pelé made a gesture for him to speak, he was waiting for me to ask him, ha ha ha ”, recalled the experienced journalist Jesús Vélez Banegas, who at the age of 22 had his first experience with the legend of legends at that time.
Days later, Santos visited Guatemala so that on Sunday, February 15, two weeks after that duel, they would meet Olimpia at the National Stadium in Tegucigalpa in a 0-0 win without much euphoria. Five years later, Pelé hung up his boots and since then his glorious career has been kept alive and will do so until eternity, where the beloved ‘O Rei’ now rests in peace.