Joshua Robinson

The same way we might miss the subway.

It's just the thing that happens.

And so who won the first World Cup?

This huge home field advantage at the World Cup.

And if you haven't spent three weeks on a boat, then you probably are in better shape.

Exactly.

So Uruguay wins the first World Cup in 1930.

I think it's fair to say that when Uruguay lifted what was then the Jules Rimet Trophy, basically no one in Europe knew they had even done it.

You get a wire dispatch that's picked up by the newspapers and maybe mentioned in passing on the radio.

But that's it.

This was not a global event and really doesn't become one until after World War II.

The first time he plays at it, at the tournament, is 1958 in Sweden, and he's 17 years old.

He's this wiry kid from Brazil who can do incredible things with the ball.

And at a time when, you know, European countries were playing quite a dour version of the game, all based on complex systems, here was a kid who was playing with this individual joy and this virtuosity and flicking the ball over defenders' heads and then, you know, picking it up again.

Smashing it in from, you know, miles out.

He is this guy who, as John described, brings all this joy and color and excitement.

He really crackles when you watch him on screen.

It's not just Pelé.

There is another character.

And he couldn't be more different.