Sometimes it doesn't even take a game, just a single player, to stop war. Particularly if that player is (arguably) the greatest to ever play the game. This was the case with the incomparable Pele, who played in a 1967 exhibition match in Lagos, Nigeria, while that country was plunged in a brutal civil war.
Remarkably, the warring factions called for and successfully observed a 48 hour truce, just so fans from both sides could see O Rei do Futebol play. Here again football brought together that which war had torn asunder.
We must now ask who will carry this mantle of peace in the new century? Not too long ago, the greatest player of the last decade, Ronaldinho, got 90,000 to stand on their feet everytime he touched the ball at Giants Stadium, but recently he has been eclipsed on the pitch by Portugal's Ronaldo and Argentina's Messi. The question is: can either of those two exceptional talents win the hearts and minds of the footballing masses; and, if so, are they willing to use their considerable clout in the manner of Pele?
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