Brazil players face backlash for skipping Pelé’s fu neral

SAO PAULO: Brazilian soccer stars past and present are under fire from fans for skipping Pelé’s funeral and opting to pay their respects on social media.

The three-time World Cup champion was buried in his hometown Tuesday ater more than 230,000 mourners passed by his casket at Vila Belmiro stadium in Santos. Pelé died last Thursday ater a batle with cancer.

Fans expected former Santos players like Neymar, Rodrygo and Giovanni to atend. They also hoped retired greats like Zico, Romario, Ronaldo, Kaká and Ronaldinho Gaucho would show up at the beach city 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of São Paulo.

Their social media accounts were flooded with comments by angry fans ater Pelé’s burial.

None of the players from Brazil’s 2002 World Cup winning squad atended. One of them - former star midfielder Kaká - was criticized because he had complained during an interview in December that Brazilians do not honor their sports heroes as much as foreigners.

“You didn’t even show up for the funeral of the man who paved the way for you to have the life that you have,” said Joao Vitor Custodio on Kaká’s Instagram post about Pelé that drew more than 5,000 comments, including many about his decision not to come for the tributes.

In Neymar’s Instagram post mourning Pelé’s death, one fan wrote: “It is easy to say, but you sent your father and did not come.” The Brazil striker later limited comments in that post to people he knows. No foreign footballers came to Brazil for Pelé’s tributes, funeral and burial.

Former midfielder Mauro Silva was the lone representative of the 1994 team that won the World Cup in the United States. He is currently an executive at the São Paulo state soccer federation.

Some of Pelé’s surviving Brazil teammates from the 1958, 1962 and 1970 World Cup titles were unfit to atend, like 91-year-old Mário Zagallo, and others like Roberto Rivellino were reportedly too upset.

Fans didn’t seem to believe those who said they tried but could not get to Santos in time, like Cafu.

“Unfortunately and with a lot of sorrow I could not atend Pelé’s funeral, I was on the other side of the globe and at work. My flights to return to Brazil started only in the early hours of Wednesday, I can only get to Brazil tomorrow,” he said. “Does that change what I feel for Pelé, or what he represents to me and to soccer in general? Never!”