Pelé laid to rest as fans celebrate his life, but Brazilian soccer stars are conspicuously absent

By Samindra Kunti in Santos, Brazil

January 4 - On Tuesday, Santos and Brazil bid farewell to Pelé, the country's greatest icon. Nearly a quarter of a million mourners and well-wishers, including newly sworn in president Luiz Inacio da Silva, marched past Pelé's coffin in a serene funeral procession ahead of private internment.

The Brazilian president attended a small mass after the city of Santos honored its most famous citizen in the past 24 hours. It was a symbolic moment as a new political era began as the country said goodbye to Pelé.

The black coffin was then removed from the temporary tent in the center circle as Pelé left the Vila Belmiro, the stadium he first entered as a teenager and where he took his first steps, for the last time. stormed the world stage and cemented his name as the greatest football player in the world winning countless trophies and playing superlative football.

Crackers exploded as the funeral cortege – Pelé's coffin atop a fire engine – slowly moved through the streets of Santos and past his 100-year-old mother's house with fans lined up in the streets. The procession took four hours before a private burial in a cemetery in the shadow of the Santos stadium. A trumpeter played the club anthem.

Participating in the private ceremony, Clodoaldo, a Santos legend and 1970 World Cup winner, recalled Pelé's suffering in the later stages of his life due to poor health, but expressed his gratitude for everything his former teammate had meant.

However, other footballing legends and stars faced major backlash for not attending the funeral procession. FIFA President Gianni Infantino - came under fire for taking a selfie near Pele's coffin - Conmebol boss Alejandro Dominguez, CBF chairman Ednaldo Rodrigues as well as local politicians claimed their moment, but many football players remained absent.

Clodoaldo was the only member of the 1970 squad to attend the funeral while with the exception of Mauro Silva, an official from the Sao Paulo Football Federation, not a single player from the Cup-winning teams of the world 1994 and 2002 did not appear. Kaka and Ronaldo as well as contemporary star Neymar have come under fire. Most Brazilian clubs didn't send a representative either, Real Madrid did.

"Pelé is a citizen of the world, on the same level as Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi, but Brazilians don't know how to recognize him," said José Ferreira Neto, a former Brazilian midfielder and famous television presenter.

"If they won the World Cup and didn't come to see Pelé, what can I tell them? At the very least, it shows disrespect."

Last month, Kaka said Brazilians don't show enough respect for their national heroes, citing regular criticism of Neymar and Ronaldo. The former AC Milan star spent a month in Qatar during the World Cup as a BeIN Sport pundit, Ronaldo as a FIFA legend. The first was heavily criticized.

"Where is Kaká, who said Brazilians don't recognize their heroes?" wrote Walter Casagrande Júnior, a Brazilian columnist. "Well, Kaká, after what we saw at Pelé's wake, it's clear that it's you who doesn't recognize great heroes."

Neto added that this will not be forgotten.

Three World Cup winner, Pelé suffered from colon cancer and died last Thursday at Albert Einstein Hospital, surrounded by family and loved ones, sparking a global outpouring of love and love. tributes. Besides the Brazilian soccer players, the Brazilians and the Santistas did just that: kiss Pelé one last time.

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