Pele talks on Neymar’s responsibility and Brazil’s form

The most famous soccer player of the world talks explicitly about Neymar’s responsibility and various issues. He elaborated on the upcoming Olympics and Copa America. Neymar, Johan Cruyff and his own standing in the game’s pantheon were also mentioned.

 Pele talks on Neymar’s responsibility and Brazil’s form

Even now, nearly two years after Brazilian soccer’s darkest day, the pain lingers. He painfully remembers the humiliation.

“I am sad just talking about it,” Pele said, referring to the Selecao’s epic 7-1 defeat the semifinals of the 2014 World Cup. Such a defeat was more soul-crushing by the fact that Brazil was the host nation.

“I cried watching that game and not just because of the score. I cried because I do not know what happened to the joy of Brazilian football.”

The man who is a living legend was in New York. He came there to promote a new biopic about the provenance of his genius, “Pele: The Birth of a Legend.” Now 75, Pele is less sprightly — a recent hip operation poses the simple act of walking a challenge. But when it comes to flogging the brand, he is as tireless as ever.

But it is in discussion about the spiritual home of the modern game where he becomes most passionate. He shakes his head about the sad decline of Brazil’s formidable fame.

“Maybe this summer in the Olympics and Copa America, we can remind the world of how Brazil plays soccer,” he says, “but it will not be easy. I fear we have lost our way.” He is sitting at a table by the window of his lavish hotel room, shafts of fading sunlight from Park Avenue falling fittingly across his face and casting it half in shadow.