Pele believes the Brazil national team “has a problem” in attack but the football legend is confident his country will be in contention at the upcoming World Cup on home soil.
Brazil – who have won the World Cup a record five times – have a rich history of producing world-class strikers, none more so than all-time top scorer Pele.
However, aside from highly-talented Barcelona forward Neymar, Brazil are short of options up-front – a weakness in the squad Pele feels could be crucial in their bid for a sixth title.
“The Confederations Cup victory was good for preparation, but the team does have a little bit of a problem in attack,” said Pele during a brief trip to the UAE where he was unveiled as the new Global Ambassador for Emirates Airline.
“As everybody knows, Brazil have always had a very strong attack, but this team is not as strong in that area as in the past.
“The midfield and defence is very organised, there is just an issue in setting up the attacks. This is something very different for us.”
Despite his concerns, Pele is sure “Brazil will be well prepared” as they get set to take on the world with the home crowd behind them.
But the three-time World Cup winner believes the Samba Boys face stiff competition from a host of nations, in particular two European heavyweights.
“With six months to go until the World Cup, the best team I have seen is Spain,” said Pele, who scored 77 goals for Brazil. “They are a very complete and organised team. After Spain, I would say Germany deserve to be one of the favourites.
“After that, you must respect the traditional football nations, including Italy, England, Portugal and Argentina.”
Pele is considered the greatest World Cup player of all-time, dazzling at the 1958, ’62, and ’70 tournaments, scoring 12 goals in total – the fifth highest in history.
This summer is the next chance for football’s global stars to grab their own opportunity to shine on the biggest stage, as the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Radamel Falcao descend on Brazil.
“At a World Cup, it is difficult to look out for just one or two players because there are so many good players involved in the tournament,” commented Pele.
“The funny thing is, when we discuss which players to look out for, we only ever talk about goal-scorers; Ronaldo, Messi, Romario, Pele. But sometimes it is defensive players or goalkeepers that are the best players at the tournament, (former England goalkeeper) Gordan Banks for example.”
He added: “But if I had to pick one, then it would be Neymar, a product from my team Santos…I hope he can win the Best Player and Brazil win the World Cup!”
