He was seventeen. Most boys that age are sitting exams. Pelé was playing in a World Cup Final against the hosts, Sweden, in front of their own crowd.
In the 55th minute he produced the goal this entry is about. The ball came to him in the box, he flicked it over a Swedish defender, let it drop and volleyed it into the net, all in one movement. The Swedish supporters stood and applauded him. They seemed to understand they had just seen something unusual, even as it was being done to their own team.
Brazil won 5-2. Pelé scored twice in the final.
The youngest scorer in a World Cup Final
That goal made him the youngest player ever to score in a World Cup Final, a record that still stands. Sixty-eight years later, no 17-year-old has come close to doing what Pelé did that afternoon.
The flick, the control and the volley were the work of a grown man. At 17 he was arguably already the best player on the planet, and the tournament in Sweden was where the rest of the world found out.
It was only the beginning. Pelé went on to win three World Cups in total, and the story of that career starts with a teenager lifting the ball over a defender's head in 1958.
- Country: Brazil, against hosts Sweden
- Round: 1958 Final, 55th minute
- Final score: Brazil 5-2 Sweden
Tomorrow: number 2.
