The day Necaxa beat Santos de Pelé
Nacaxa are the only Mexican team that can claim the defeated the King of Soccer, when they beat Santos in tournament play in Mexico City in February 1961.
In addition to winning the third of his world titles in the 1970 World Cup hosted on Mexican soil, Brazil’s footballing hero repeatedly played against Mexican clubs. The only club that managed to defeat one of the greatest footballers ever was Rayos del Necaxa, on February 2, 1961.
During a pentagonal tournament played in Mexico City in which the teams Guadalajara, Oro, Independiente from Argentina, Santos from Brazil and Necaxa participated, the rojiblanco team defeated 4-3 the Brazilian side, which had a young 19-year-old Pelé among its ranks. Three years earlier, at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, the No. 10 dazzled the world with his brilliance winning world champions at the age of 17, while scoring two goals in the final against the European hosts.
The club from Sao Paulo arrived in Mexico City two days before the tournament, and it is said that the expectation to see the South American team was so great that while they were heading to the field of the Ciudad Deportiva de la Magdalena Mixihuca to carry out their training sessions, the bus was blockaded by more than 200 fans eager to see Pelé and the rest of the squad, who in those years was considered the best soccer player in America, and Pele was already thought of as the in the world.
The first goal of the game was scored by “Morocho” Dante Juárez, and at the end of the match, his coach, Uruguayan Donaldo Ross, highlighted the player’s performance, even comparing him to ‘O Rei’: ‘The satisfaction I feel for the victory is all the greater when I consider Santos as one of the best teams in the world, which has been defeated not just by showing guts and physicality, but also playing soccer. And I want him to say one thing: Tonight, Juárez was on the same level as Pelé.
Santos suffered a painful defeat that day, but Pelé would establish himself as one of the greatest in the history of this sport nine years later, in 1970 at 15 kilometers away at the Azteca Stadium.