Traditional rivals Santos and Pele battled to a 2-2 draw when the Masters Over-50 Fraternity of Guyana hosted a celebratory match for the 79th birth anniversary of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, globally known as ‘King Pele’ on Wednesday at the Georgetown Football Club, Bourda.
The match was another chapter in the storied history of the teams, who once contested the ‘Brazilian Cup’ fixture in homage to the global football icon.
Mercurial forward Jolyan Lewis led Santos in the 60-minute affair with a second half double in the 35th and 45th minute. For Pele, the conversions came off the boots of Michael Pedro and Robert D’Anjou in the 51st and 53rd minute respectively.
With the first half unable to produce the opening goal, Lewis made his presence felt in front of a sizable crowd with a clinical finish to hand Santos the lead.
Racing into the right side of the penalty box, the diminutive Lewis stabbed his right footed effort into the lower right corner. Ten minutes later, Lewis would make his presence felt once more to secure a deserved double and propel the scoreline to 2-0. A constant threat to the Pele rearguard, Lewis latched onto a through pass to be in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, before finishing his effort into the lower right corner.
However, the contest became a game of halves as Pele equalised within several minutes, tallying both conversions in the space of three minutes.
The first came in the 51st minute via the penalty spot following a clumsy challenge by the defender.
Tasked with the responsibility, Pedro made no mistake from the distance, blasting his effort into the left corner.
The equaliser quickly came to fruition, as a strike from 28 yards out from the right of the field, was spilt by the custodian into the path of the onrushing forward who easily converted into the left corner.
Born in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Pele is regarded by many analysts and pundits as one of the greatest players of all time.
In 1999, he was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), and was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century award alongside Diego Maradona.
Pelé was also elected Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee in the same year. According to the IFFHS, Pelé is the most successful domestic league goal-scorer in football history scoring 650 goals in 694 matches.
In total, the mercurial forward has recorded 1,281 goals in 1,363 games, which includes unofficial friendlies and is a Guinness World Record.
Pelé began playing for Santos at age 15 and the Brazil national team at 16 years. During his international career, he won three FIFA World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970, a feat that is unmatched.
Pelé is also the all-time leading goal-scorer for Brazil with 77 goals in 92 appearances. At club level, he is the record goal-scorer for Santos with 619 conversions in 638 games, and led them to the 1962 and 1963 Copa Libertadores titles.
