Bloody Pele. Bloody Pele. Bloody Pele. Say his name three times whilst looking in the mirror and he will stop making things up on social media. That’s what I am hoping anyway. Pele has gone from being one of the most iconic footballers of all time to a man who spends his time auditioning for the ‘Didn’t Happen Of The Year’ award on Twitter. That prize is almost certainly going to be in 2019, as he tweeted this effort:
"Once, in a match in Senegal, the goalkeeper cried so much after I scored that he had to be substituted! He had lost a big bet!”
Anyway, I have gone a little off topic here, despite Pele being a fraud. He did, in fact, post something true on social media this week. In a birthday message to Liverpool great Kenny Dalglish he tweeted:
“I backed @LFC to win the Premier League from the start. I still think they will do it.”
Bad news Liverpool fans, Pele’s past predictions are nothing short of horrendous. He really needs to stop making outlandish statements which are written down or recorded, unlike over 1000 of his so-called ‘goals’. Below we take a look at some of his worst predictions from history.
African World Cup Winner
A big advocate of African football, Pele famously predicted that an African nation would lift the World Cup before the year 2000. It is 2019. No African team has come close. No African team has even reached the semi-finals of the biggest football competition in the world and the closest we have come was Ghana in 2010. Sadly, no African nation looks like it will come close for some time, with the European and South American looking strong at every tournament.
Nick Barmby
This one seems too bizarre to be true, but unlike Pele’s tweets, it actually is. Nick Barmby was a decent footballer in his day. That is all. A run of the mill, decent Premier League footballer. Nothing to write home about but he did well on his day and made 23 England appearances. For some reason Pele, high on Viagra in the 90’s said: “Nick Barmby is up there with Zinedine Zidane, Paolo Maldini and Ronaldo.” It’s not looking good Liverpool fans.
Brazil 2002
Another World Cup classic from the main man. He predicted that his home nation would struggle at the World Cup in Japan & Korea and could face a Group Stage exit. Of course, they won their fifth World Cup, inspired by Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, edging past England on their way to glory.
So unfortunately for Liverpool fans, with their side just a point behind Manchester City, they now have little chance of winning that elusive Premier League title. Cheers, Pele.
