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San Francisco, California The man who changed soccer throughout the world, not once, but several times, turned 67 last month. And he still looks 27. Pelé is still energetic, still vibrant, still treasured, still exuding the aura that first enthralled the world at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. He's still mesmerizing leaders of great nations and livery drivers of modest means and just about everyone else who cares about the world's game. Just 17 in 1958, Pelé and his teammates put on a dazzling exhibition and brought their country the first of its five World Cups. With great players galore, the team outscored its opponents during the tournament 16-4, including a 5-2 plastering of Sweden in the final, but in that competition Pelé's persona fused with that of his nation. Soccer wasn't sport or big business. When played by Brazil, it was an indulgence, a feast, a party, and a glorious symphony. It was joy. He scored twice in the final, and one of those goals shows up on highlight reels more often than any other: a seemingly innocuous touch to control a pass in the penalty area, a flick over an astonished defender, and a fierce shot into the net past a stunned goalkeeper.  With Ali and Babe Ruth, Pelé remains the world’s most identifiable sports star. Contrast these images with those from the 2006 tournament: Players flopping to deceive referees, referees arguing with players and waving yellow and red cards, and most vividly in the France-Italy final, the great French midfielder Zinedine Zidane head-butting an Italian opponent and trudging off the field in disgrace with 10 minutes left. The world is drastically different than it was in 1958, and so is the world's game. Every four years, when the World Cup is played, much of the hype and buildup and anticipation swirls about whether a precocious youngster, relatively unknown, can seduce a global audience as Pelé once did. It's a romantic image and probably a false one. One might have emerged in 1978, when Argentina hosted the World Cup, but coach Cesar Menotti elected not to use a dynamic dribbler who had already dazzled his nation as well as the world while competing in a junior version of the World Cup, the 1977 under-20 world championships. Much of the world thus knew him well. Argentina won the World Cup without Diego Maradona, who soon enough electrified fans and journalists in his own way. The question, 'Who is the greatest player ever?' usually comes down to Pelé or Maradona. In transportation, in communications, in so many ways, the world has become much smaller, while soccer has grown exponentially. Thousands of players ply the trade outside their native lands, many of them recruited and signed while in their mid-teens. South Americans, Asians, and Africans flock to Europe, where the biggest clubs play on the biggest stages for the biggest money. FIFA, the sport's worldwide governing body, stages world championships at the U-17 and U-20 levels. Coaches, scouts and agents swarm to these events hoping to find a jewel before somebody else. These competitions didn't exist in Pelé's time, and so fiercely competitive is the search for young talent that FIFA has introduced bylaws prohibiting the international transfer and registration of players younger than 18. The governing body further drafted policies and procedures to compensate clubs for developing players who are snapped up by other ambitious clubs. One of the most closely watched young players at the last World Cup left his native land in 2000 when he was 13 to be signed by the famous Spanish club, Barcelona. Lionel Messi led the Argentine U-20 team to the world title in 2005 and finished as the tournament's top scorer and received the competition's outstanding player award. Last spring Barcelona won the European Champions' League title, and a month later he played for his national team at the World Cup, during which he turned 19. But Argentina didn't win the World Cup, and Messi, while impressive at times, failed to light up the tournament.
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