YOKOHAMA, 29 June — The world’s greatest footballer Pele said yesterday he was impressed by the World Cup but nonetheless called for more rest for top players and better preparation for match officials.
“The World Cup was fantastic, so many teams surprised. It was good for the game,” said Pele, who won three of Brazil’s four World Cup titles as a player.
Pele did not want to make a prediction about the outcome of the final although he slightly favored Brazil.
“It will be a game between the strongest attack and the best defense. Brazil started slowly but has improved in the last two matches,” he said. “Both teams are very experienced and the strongest teams at the World Cup.”
Looking at the referee problems which have partly overshadowed the tournament, Pele said: “Referees need to be better prepared. A referee from a small country does not have the same experience and FIFA needs to do something about it.”
FIFA chief Joseph Blatter has already indicated that future World Cups may no longer see referees from all over the world and suggested that match officials should all come from the same country.
At the same news conference, former Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Perreira called on football officials to give teams enough time to prepare for the World Cup after many top players suffered from burnout at the current edition.
“The teams should be rewarded with at least one month of preparation,” said Perreira, who is at the World Cup as a member of the world governing body FIFA’s technical study group.
Perreira recalled that Brazil had three months to prepare for the tournament back in 1970, unlike the current situation where France and Argentina were the most prominent early victims.
“It was very clear that they were exhausted,” Perreira said.
Pele agreed: “Teams with good players have had more games. France and others had players arrive tired at the training camp. Others had more time to prepare. FIFA needs to have a different calendar.”
The statements came after the presentation of the World Cup All-Star Team where Brazil led the way with Roberto Carlos and the “Triple R” strike force of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo.
Germany, who meet Brazil in the final tomorrow, had a total four players in the 16-strong squad as Roberto Carlos was also selected by the Technical Study Group among players from the quarterfinalists: Oliver Kahn, Michael Ballack and Miroslav Klose.
The others were Rustu Recber, Alpay Ozalan, Hasan Sas (Turkey), Hong Mjung Bo, Yoo Song Chul (South Korea), Sol Campbell (England), Fernando Hierro (Spain), Claudio Reyna (United States) and El Hadji Diouf (Senegal).
Technical study group member Jozef Venglos named “overall performance” as the criteria for the selection while Perreira admitted that it was not easy to chose the players.
