“I tried, I tried. Now it’s over. I started here, and I’m ending it here.”
Thus, in tears, spoke the man Brazil asked to be Pelé.
His debut with the national team was on August 10, 2010, at MetLife in New Jersey.
Sixteen years later, he returned to the same place to say goodbye.
Football has that poetic cruelty: it gives to you and takes from you in the same place.
He leaves as the Canarinha’s all-time top scorer, with 80 goals in 130 matches.
A number that in any other country would be enough for a statue. In Brazil, it was never enough.
He said it himself: “My time with the Brazilian national team has passed. I made history there. I am very happy. I experienced many things there. I gave my blood, my life. I always fought and battled for the Canarinha. But I think I don’t want any more.”
He won the South American Under-20 Championship in 2011, the 2013 Confederations Cup and the Olympic gold medal in Rio 2016, when Brazil defeated Germany on penalties.
That night he did cry with happiness. Brazil did too.
His best result at a World Cup was the semifinals of Brazil 2014, in which, without him due to injury, Germany humiliated the hosts 7-1.
That wound was not his fault either. But Brazil needed someone to blame.
He arrived at his last World Cup injured and could not play the minutes he wanted.
Even so, he scored from the penalty spot in the 99th minute against Norway.
His last goal in the green and yellow shirt: late, solitary, insufficient. As so many times before.
Brazil asked him for the World Cup. He gave it everything else.
Stars ⚽