<\/p>\n
On the edge of the synthetic turf fields where the youngsters who are trained in his academy train, Smith affectionately contemplates a giant poster -he does not remember which New York Cosmos game it is, nor if it is from 1976 or 1977- in which Pel\u00e9 appears, and he, defenseman, raising his arms to heaven celebrating a goal.<\/p>\n
Smith, a professional player in Philadelphia in the 1970s, signed with the Cosmos in 1976 for $100,000. <\/b>The Brazilian legend had signed a year earlier for at least $1 million, a move that brought him out of semi-retirement at 34. Pel\u00e9 led the New York club to the title in 1977, with 31 goals in 56 games.<\/p>\n
A decade younger than the Brazilian star, Smith has been an absolute “fan” of Pel\u00e9 since he was a child: “I couldn’t believe I was going to play with him,” laughs Bobby at 70.<\/p>\n
After American goalkeeper Bob Rigby, signed at the same time as Smith, Pel\u00e9 brought Italian Giorgio Chinaglia, German “Kaiser” Franz Beckenbauer and Brazilian Carlos Alberto to the Cosmos.<\/p>\n
“Every day, we were almost like little children around him,” says the former professional player, moved to tears by a beautiful photograph of Pel\u00e9’s last game, in late 1977, in which he affectionately caresses the cheek of a fascinated Smith. .<\/p>\n
“So warm and humble”, knowing “to put his ego aside”, Edson Arantes do Nascimento “was a great teammate who cared for all his teammates and, no, he was not just a superstar”, Smith affirms in reference to the impressive record of Pel\u00e9, the only player in history to have won three World Cups (1958, 1962, 1970).<\/p>\n
World icon when he hung up his boots in October 1977 during a friendly between the Cosmos and his former Brazilian club, Santos, at New York’s Giants Stadium, the perennial Brazilian number 10 was also “the biggest influence” on the rise of ” soccer” in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, Smith says.<\/p>\n
“Bringing him here brought a lot of legitimacy to this sport. People wanted to see him. He was playing in New York in front of 70,000 people and he brought all these stars,” recalls Smith, referring to European champions Johan Cruyff, Bobby Moore and George Best, who arrived to the American league attracted by the Brazilian.<\/p>\n
“We would not have had a national program without Pel\u00e9 here. We would be years and years behind (…) It’s incredible, that’s the impact he had,” said Smith, who continues to highlight his “athletic” qualities and above all his “vision.” of game.<\/p>\n
Would American soccer use a new Pel\u00e9? A question that the ex-partner of the former Santos player and the ‘Canarinha’ answers firmly.<\/p>\n
“It is important that a country like ours develop its own American players. We needed Beckenbauer, Alberto, Best, but now we are in our own development, our team has done much better in this World Cup” from Qatar, four years away of the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n