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Friday, March 29
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Develop football in India at the grassroots - Pele.


Mangalore Today News Network

Kolkata, Oct 13, 2015:  Replying to a query from former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, who wanted to know how to have a five-year plan for overall development of football in India, Pele said that it is must to  start working at the base. Give players chance to play matches abroad so they can gain experience. Develop the game in schools, universities and local clubs first.

Pele.jA self-confessed football lover, Cricketer Ganguly is the co-owner of Atletico de Kolkata, the city team in the ongoing Indian Super League.

Pele, who is on a three-day tour of Kolkata, also touched upon the downfall of Brazilian football. The five-time champions have been on a slide in recent times, unable to bring out the magic they were once famous for. At the 2014 World Cup, they were thrashed 7-1 by Germany in the semifinals. Pele said lack of preparation time was affecting the team.

Pele pointed out that with most players from Brazil spending time playing football for European clubs, there is little time to prepare as a team. Individually Brazil has the best players but as a team a lot of problems exist. Before players used to belong to clubs but today players are managed by their agents.

Admitting that the game has become more professional, money oriented and highly competitive, the 74-year-old exuded confidence that he would have been successful had he played in this generation.  No doubt football today is tougher than before but when God grants you the gift of football it’s the same in any generation. Football is all about skill. It would have been difficult but sure players like Beto would have been equally successful had he played in this era said Pele.

Pele refused to be drawn into a comparative analysis of who is the best football player from today’s generation. While he pointed out that Argentina’s Lionel Messi is the best player of the decade, Pele also spoke highly of fellow Brazilian Neymar and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.   It’s difficult to make a comparison of players of different generations. (Cristiano) Ronaldo plays forward and tries to score while Messi plays with a different style. Lot of people compare the two but they are different kind of players. Neymar also has a good future. Pele is  the only footballer to have won three World Cups in the history of the game.


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