FOOTBALL LEGENDS
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Eusebio

Eusebio was born 25 January 1942.He is a retired Portuguese footballer.He is considered one of the best footballers of all-time.Eusebio helped the Portuguese national team reach third place at the 1966 World Cup, being the top goalscorer of the tournament with nine goals a year before he was elected as the European Footballer of the Year.He played for Benfica for 15 years and he is the club's all time top scorer.
Eusebio was nicknamed 'The Black Panther' or 'The Black Pearl' for his speed and his powerful, accurate right-footed strike.Eusébio scored 727 goals in 715 games for Benfica.He is considered Benfica's and Portugal's most renowned player and the first world-class African striker.He was elected the 10th best footballer of the 20th century in a poll and Pelé named Eusébio as one of the 125 best living footballers in his 2004 FIFA 100 list. In November 2003,he was selected as the Golden Player of Portugal by the Portuguese Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.
Eusébio was the all-time leading scorer for his country with 41 goals. He made his debut for the Portuguese national team against Luxembourg on 19 October 1961.He was the leading scorer in the 1966 World Cup where he scored nine goals.His last game for the national team was a 2–2 draw against Bulgaria on 19 October 1973 in a World Cup qualifier.Despite being retired, Eusébio is a constant presence among the Portuguese national team.
Pele

Edison Arantes do Nascimento or better known as Pele was born on 23th October 1940.He is a retired Brazilian football player.He is widely regarded by the fans,football experts and players as the greatest footballer of all time.He was spotted by football star Waldemar de Brito and he began playing for Santos at 15.Pele made his debut for the Brazilian national team at age 16 and he won his first World Cup at 17 scoring 6 goals.He was the only player to have three world cup winning medals.
He played for Santos alongside many gifted players,including Zito,Pepe and Coutinho.Pele made his debut for Santos in 7 September 1956 scoring a goal against Corinthians.He was given a starting place when the 1957 season started and he became the league's youngest top scorer at the age 16.Ten months after signing professionally,he was called up to the Brazilian national team and after the 1962 world cup many european giants tried to sign him but the Brazil government declared Pele as an 'official national treasure' to prevent him from being transferred out of country.
He played for the New York Cosmos for a short while after he came out of semi-retirement.He played his last game against his old team Santos at Giants Stadium.He played the first half for Cosmos and second half for Santos.After the match,he ran around the stadium holding the American flag in his left hand and Brazilian flag in his right hand.He scored his 1000th goal against Vasco da Gama on 19 November 1969.He scored from a penalty kick at Maracana Stadium,the largest stadium in the world.
