World Cup Stars: Pelé – This week’s podcast is all about Pelé – one of the greatest ever footballers. You can listen to the podcast by clicking on the file below while you can also subscribe and listen to all our football-language podcasts. If you’d like to show your support for what we do then think about becoming a patron (through Patreon). There is a transcript for this show which may help you to improve your language skills by reading as you listen, or if you are a teacher of English you can use the transcript to make different kinds of activities for your learners. If you have any questions, suggestions or comments then please email us at: admin@languagecaster.com. Introduction DF: Hello everybody, this is Damian from the Languagecaster team – we hope you are all well. Now this week’s it’s Brazil’s greatest ever footballer, Pelé’s 80th birthday and so on this week’s podcast, we thought we’d talk a little about the great Brazilian superstar; one of the greatest ever footballers. Now, each era has its heroes and stars and today’s football world is dominated by players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi, who are role models to many young players, and who will go down in history as some of the greatest to have ever played the game. But there is another player that has stood the test of time and is regarded as one of the greatest World Cup players of all time. Pelé appeared in four World Cups: 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970, scoring 12 goals – the third most by any player – and creating many, many more. It was his first and last tournaments in Sweden and Mexico respectively that cemented his reputation as a world great. In 1958, Pelé was 17 and had been playing for Santos and Brazil for only one year. No one could imagine what an impact the boy from Três Corações in the south of Brazil would have on the tournament, but by the time he had scored four goals, including a hat-trick against France in the semis, on the way to reaching the final everyone knew he was special. In the final, he scored one of the goals of the century. After chesting the ball down precisely, he then deliciously weighted a lob over a defender, and then polished it off with a clinical volley. Pelé scored another as Brazil overcame Sweden 5-2. He became the youngest player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup, and also the youngest to appear and to score in a final. In 1970, in Mexico, Pelé was back to his best as part of the Brazil team which included such players as Jairzinho, Rivelino, Gérson and Tostão. It was samba football at its pinnacle and Pelé was involved in many breathtaking goals and moves during the tournament, but perhaps the most famous was his involvement in an attack that resulted in what is often regarded as the perfect goal. In the final against Italy, Clodoaldo dribbled past four Italians, played the ball to Rivelino who struck a long pass down the left to Jairzinho. From Jairzinho, Pelé received the ball just outside the box in the middle of the field before waiting for the perfect moment to stroke the ball right into the path of Carlos Albert...