Eighteen minutes into the 1970 World Cup Final, Rivelino floated a cross into the Italian box. Pelé went up for it, and he seemed to stay up there. He met the ball above the Italian defenders and powered it past Enrico Albertosi.
People who saw it compare it to a basketball dunk: the leap, the hang-time, the power at the top. It opened the scoring in a final Brazil won 4-1, one of the most dominant displays any final has seen, and it brought Brazil their third World Cup.
Why is Pelé's header against Italy on the list?
It was a very good header, but the setting matters as much as the technique.
This was Pelé's last World Cup, and in Mexico he was playing in a side that many still call the greatest football team in history. The header was his contribution to the final that crowned that side, and it came from a player who, by then, carried himself as if the tournament belonged to him. On that evidence he had a point.
- Scorer: Pelé, Brazil
- Opponent: Italy, in the Final
- Minute: 18th
- Final score: Brazil 4-1 Italy
There is something neat about a career that ends with the best player in the world rising above everyone on the biggest stage and heading in the opening goal. Few players get to leave a World Cup like that. Pelé did, and the Italians spent the rest of the afternoon finding out how the rest of his team played.
Tomorrow, number 8.
