Mozambique: Pelé played in ‘Machava’ stadium in 1969

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Mozambique: Pelé played in ‘Machava’ stadium in 1969

4:08 CAT | 04 Jan 2023

Photo: Via Clube Ferroviário de Maputo

Mozambique’s Estádio da Machava, formerly Estádio Salazar, features in the history of the Brazilian soccer legend Pelé and his home club Santos.

It was in 1969, a year after the inauguration (June 1968) of the Stadium, that the Santos team visited Maputo (then Lourenço Marques) and the Infulene Valley for a friendly match with FK Austria Wien, still part of the Stadium’s festivities.

The match took place on February 1st, before an audience of around 20,000 people and was a 2 to zero with Santos winning, with goals by Lima and Toninho.

Pelé played in the match.

The Santos team stayed in Hotel Cardoso.

FK Austria Wien-AUS 0 x 2 Santos

Goals: Lima and Toninho.

Venue: Oliveira Salazar Stadium, in Lourenço Marques, Mozambique.

Competition: Friendly (TOTTA Standard Bank Cup)

Audience: 20,000 approximately

Referee: Americo Telles

Austria Wien: Schneider; Heinz, Johann, Frank, Karl, Geyer; Dienberger, Parits (Knell); Kuntz, Helmut, Ernst and Reidl (Poindl).

Santos: Laércio; Turcão (Oberdan), Ramos Delgado (Paulo), Joel Camargo (Marçal) e Rildo; Lima e Negreiros (Amauri); Manoel Maria, Toninho (Douglas), Pelé and Edu. . Technician: Antoninho

The story goes that it was later in the same year that the Vila Belmiro team also climbed Nigeria at the time of war. On this visit to Nigeria, Pelé managed to stop the war (Biafra) as everyone wanted to witness the King’s visit to this West African country. It is for this reason that it is said that ‘King’ Pelé was the only player in the history of football to manage to stop the course of a war.

According to the club’s website, the match in Machava was part of the Santos ‘African Tour’, which took the club to the: Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Nigeria, Mozambique, Ghana and Algeria, where they played in Point Noire, Brazzaville, Kinshasa, Lagos, Lourenço Marques, Benin, Accra and Oran.

Brazilian football great Pele, whose full name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, was laid to rest this Tuesday in Santos, after his death last week at the age of 82.

Source: Integrity / Clube Ferroviário de Maputo / Acervo Histórico do Santos FC / Delagoa Bay