Brazil

Ever wondered how defenders in the 60s and 70s coped with Pelé, perhaps the greatest player of all time? Defending Pelé was really quite simple: They kicked the sh*t out of him. And pushed him around. And threw him to the ground. And kicked him a few dozen more times.

Pelé scored 767 goals over his storied career but he would have had more were it not for the physical play of defenders who quickly realized the only hope they had to stop Pelé was to foul him. 

I had a teammate growing up who was our regular penalty kick taker. He would slowly walk up to the ball and kick it meekly toward the corner. Eventually, the ball would trickle into the back of the net, with supreme accuracy overriding the deliberate pace of the shot. Brazilian legend Zico’s free kicks would do the same thing, only from 20 to 40 yards out.

Former Chapecoense goalkeeper Jakson Follmann, one of six survivors of the LaMia Airlines Flight 2933 disaster, took part in a friendly benefit match between the “Amigos do Tite” (Brazil’s national team manager) and “Amigos do Carille” (the manager of Brazilian club Corinthians) last week.