France has a king again, and his name is Pele. Soccer's grand
ambassador is all over Paris—commentating, smiling, flogging
products—in short, being Pele. So it seemed only natural last
month when, upon presenting the French Open men's singles
trophy, he acknowledged the crowd by hoisting the hardware
himself. We tracked him down on the eve of the second round.
Q: Which players have impressed you most?
A: [Zinedine] Zidane from France and [Jay-Jay] Okocha of
Nigeria. Those are the only two who have stood out in my mind so
far. They're intelligent players, and they have excellent ball
control.
Q: Have the Americans gotten better or worse since the '94 World
Cup?
A: I think their level of talent was about the same this year.
The difference was their group was much more difficult in '98.
Q: How can the U.S. improve?
A: I'd have them play a lot more games against European and
South American teams. They need more experience against
top-level competition.
Q: Would you like to be the next U.S. coach?
A: I've been asked to coach national teams all over, including
the U.S., but my desire has never been to be a professional
coach. Someday I'd like to teach amateur players and prepare
youth teams from Brazil for a Cup.
Issue date: July 6, 1998
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