The mythical seleção number 10 drew Holland for Group D; seen as the ‘enemy’ giving the Albiceleste a proxy stab in the back. “Pelé was the one who drew the acid test: Holland. Apart from the Dutch we’ve also got to get past the best nation in Africa: The Ivory Coast” said Argentinean sports daily ‘Olé’ in their Saturday edition. Olé reminds readers that ‘O Rei’ also threw a spanner in the Argentinean works in the 2002 World Cup when the Albiceleste also found themselves in a ‘Group of death’. On that occasion, Pelé drew England for a group that also boasted Nigeria and Sweden. “Four years ago it was Pelé again: from his fingers came England. Now in 2006 the same fingers have drawn the European rival that nobody wanted: Holland” continued Olé. Now fingers will be crossed to avoid ‘The curse of Pelé’ from striking the Albiceleste once again. ------------------------------------------------------
That's ridiculous. You can't really complain about a random draw, you just have to deal with what you got.
How is that ridiculous? They never said "Pele cheated. He already knew which ball had Holland." They just claimed that it was an interesting fact and that he brings bad luck.. I agree.. He brings bad luck.. But I am not saying he already talked to FIFA and knew which ball was which.
Did anyone catch the complete lack of timing Pele had at the draw?? He had to be told to hold up a minute and then again to please hurry and finally pick a ball!!??? I also recall a few years ago he was at a Formula one race and he had the honor of waving the chekered flag... he did so half a lap to early!!!!! And this is the man FIFA so boldly on Friday publicly declared at the draw as the best footballer of all time, thanks FIFA for even thinking about Maradona...... bastards hijo de putas
I wish everyone would stp "bellyaching" & complaining about the draw! Just come out & play soccer. If you wanna be world champs-it shouldn't matter WHO you play! ) You don't see the Germans whining & complaining! They just go on the pitch & play ! It seems to be a "Latin" malaise----this whining & complaining---The Italians are masters of it---follwed by the Spanish , French & Argentina! I say--play soccer & may the better team win! And, mark my words now.....in June---the Italians will ve crying---about something,.. ...the draw....a "missed" penalty call----a CALLED penalty call (against Italy)---you get my point ? Don't blame Pele or anyone---you play the cards dealt to you! Every game starts 0-0....!
Sure every game starts 0-0, but if you play someone like Holland as opposed to say someone like Costa Rica or Ecuador or even Japan or Togo etc and this happens a few times in a row, or you get goals dissalowed that really to this day I can't see why and it not only happens to one ntion in one game but several,,,, you tend to start getting a little "whinny" sorry but it is called human nature.
yeah i totally agree with El viejo here. and especially it makes me angry when people use their hands to score goals. don't you think so El viejo?
Argentinians feel cheated???? What´s with the irregular way they went to the final in 1986? Hand of God? What´s with the strange match against Peru in 1978, when Argentina had to win with a goal difference of 4 goals to get pat Brazil and into the final and won 6:0 against a totally passive Peruvian team. I´m not saying that it had to do with the large credit the argentinian national bank awarded to Peru or with a huge delivery of crops shortly afterwards. But it is utterly useless to whine about unfair situations. It did look as if refs favoured the home team in South-Korea. We beat them anyway. Portugal, Italy or Spain could have beaten them, too, but didn´t. Oh, and just to be ahead of what I see coming: yes, I would prefer Germany to win the world cup without disputable free kicks (1974/1990) or without severly fouling the best player of the favoured team on the first occasion (Puskas/1954), too.
In Argentina, people believe a lot on "bad luck" stricking certain people. For instance, our previous president (Menem) was told to bring bad luck, as Argentina would lose whenever he would assist the matches
Hand of God, is that all you lot will ever come up with?? So convinient to forget the other one though right . Fact is the officials are to blame for that goal, like Diego said himself to Peter Shilton, had a ball crossed the line but he scooped it out in the last second and the officials saw it as a no goal would Shilton hve corrected the ref and said it was a goal??? So come on allready and shut-up after all you had the Owen dive the bull in 1966 and some other close calls. As far as Maradona being invited.. cool did not know that, glad he said no to the Pele fest.
Ole is not a good example of 'Argentine Press'. They are a sensationalist tabloid. But if some people want to blame Pele for the draw, or for anything else, that is cool. It will add to the Argentina-Brazil rivalry. There is nothing that would be sweeter than beating Brazil. Well, other than winning the whole thing, of course.
Sorry but, I agree that *Pele* is bad luck, A while, back he mentioned that Colombia was gona do great in the WC, and what happened, they just crashed and burned. It concerns me cuz, Pele said some things about Mexico doing great things in this WC, but I know he brings "bad luck" I still think Argentina and Holland are great sides and will make it to the second round, and we will face one you, May the best team win!
Germany just got lucky that they faced them in the SF. The favoring ended then. It would have been a joke if they made the final, and FIFA would have had to deal with more accusations, and the credibility of the tournament and the game itself may have been diminished. What happened was he didn't wave the flag when the race winner passed. He waved the flag only when the next car passed, who was a lap down! Haha Not to mention the Pele Curse happens to every player he touts as the next Pele.
Not to mention the Pele Curse happens to every player he touts as the next Pele.[/QUOTE] Not always true, He(Adu) sucked to begin with, he is just an "overhyped DUD"
Not to nit-pick, but Costa Rica, Ecuador, Japan and Togo were not in the same pot as the Netherlands. While the Dutch were obviously the best team in their Pot C, there weren't a lot of pushovers in there with them. Switzerland or Croatia are about as weak as the 2nd Euro pot teams got. Not exactly minnows.
THATS RIGHT!! Pele is the cause for Argentinian failure in soccer and it has nothing to do with the fact that they think they are the shiatz and underestimate everybody while playing crappy soccer...
----------------------------------- While you are at it why don't you investigate about how rich the referee you guys bought to give the non existent penalty call in the 1990 final, the one that Lothar Mathaus said the other day in a report he wasnt sure if it was correct. When you get done with that maybe you can investigate about how the German federation misteriously bought the 2006 right to host the world cup above the African nations. Thats a scandal that has not been investigated but everybody nknows about it, on the other hand the argentina-peru game was investigated by FIFA and no guilty verdict came from it. I'm not saying that Pele cheated, I dont even think anybody implied that, except the usual argentina haters. Ours was just bad luck.
the thing is, even O Rei cant see who he draws, no matter how great he was at futebol, so how could Argentina possibly blame him...I dont get it, if anyone else had drawn it they wouldnt , what if El Pibe had drawn it what then, would it still be his fault?
This is all bullshit........ IThis is really pethetic from the Argentinean press.... They have won the WC in their own country with corruption and in 1986 with cheating.