Vol. 28 No. 303 (2023)
From Pelé to Messi: a question of image
In the mid-1970s, the United States was experiencing the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President Richard Nixon, after the Watergate scandal. The heroic struggle of the Vietnamese, coupled with pressure from their citizens and the enormous cost of the war, led to their defeat in the Vietnam War. In this context, in 1975 Pelé, who at that time was still the undisputed best soccer player in the world, arrived in Major League Soccer (MLS) to play for the New York Cosmos. He had retired from Santos, his only club until then, and participated in three seasons, inaugurating the interest of the public north of the Rio Grande for a sport that is played with the feet.
In current times, the country of opportunities leads by a wide margin, among developed countries, the list of deaths by firearms, among suicides, homicides and accidental victims. It has one of the highest rates of income inequality in the world, which means a huge gap between rich and poor, which is accentuated year after year. For more than a year it has been involved in a war in eastern Europe, which many qualified analysts agree could have been avoided, with multimillion-dollar budgets that swell the military-industrial complex and reduce public resources to meet the legitimate demands of improvement of the quality of life of a large part of its population.
After rejecting an offer to play in Saudi Arabia of 400 million dollars a year, Lionel Messi signed for Inter Miami, bottom of the MLS table. Both Pelé at the time and Messi now, in addition to promoting football and competing in an environment with less pressure, obtain benefits that go hand in hand with commercial agreements with international companies. For the United States, it means having the best player in the most popular sport in the world in its League; It benefits as a tourist destination, as a territory to do business, and by promoting soccer as part of global culture, it improves its image and international prestige, precisely when its role as a hegemonic power is in question.
Tulio Guterman, Director - August 2023
Published:
2023-08-02
