With just a few Days before the first anniversary of Pele's death on Friday, his son Edinho told AFP that his father "would have been sad" about the situation of the Brazilian national team right now.
Brazil currently holds sixth place in the South American rankings, the last spot that allows them direct qualification, having struggled to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.The Selecao has suffered without Neymar, their biggest player right now, who is sidelined for a long time after tearing knee ligaments.
“This crisis didn’t appear overnight, there are big and complex problems,” said Edinho, 53, who is one of Pele’s seven children.
“We are experiencing a decline… we still have great players but in previous times we had more high-level players than we do today.”
"There is no doubt, if (Pele) had been there this year, he would have been very sad," said Edinho, who was raised by his mother and later grew closer to him after Pele and her split shortly after they moved to New York when he signed for the New York Cosmos in 1975.
Santos, the Brazilian team where Pele played the majority of his career, is likewise going through a difficult time following their promotion to the second division for the first time in its 111-year history.
The club is plagued by financial issues and boardroom disagreements.
“Unfortunately this is no surprise. "Anyone who has followed the daily life of the club could have predicted such a scenario, and it has ended up happening," Edinho, a former Santos goalkeeper, stated.
The rituals to commemorate Pele's death from cancer at the age of 82 on Friday are expected to be low-key.
The six surviving children of the man largely regarded as the greatest player in history will hold a virtual meeting to honor the occasion, as many live in the United States, while a ceremony is planned for the mausoleum in Santos, which opened to the public in May.
