"I'll Be Watching From Hospital": Pele On Brazil Vs South Korea FIFA World Cup Match
Pele has been hospitalized in Sao Paulo since Tuesday amid ongoing treatments for colon cancer, which was first diagnosed in September 2021.
- NDTV Sports Desk
- Updated: December 05, 2022 09:58 pm IST
As Brazil continue their rampant run in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, arguably their greatest player ever, Pele, has been admitted in the hospital. The legendary football player, who has been undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer, has been rooting for his country in the World Cup despite being bedridden at present. Ahead of Brazil's Round of 16 match against South Korea, Pele took to Twitter and posted a tweet for the Selecao, saying he will be cheering for them from the hospital bed.
“In 1958, I walked the streets thinking about fulfilling the promise I made to my father. I know that today many have made similar promises and are also going in search of their first World Cup.
I will watch the game from the hospital and I will be rooting for each one of you. Good luck!,” a roug translate of Pele's Twitter post read.
Em 1958, eu caminhava pelas ruas pensando em cumprir a promessa que fiz ao meu pai. Sei que hoje muitos fizeram promessas parecidas e também vão em busca da sua primeira Copa do Mundo.
— Pelé (@Pele) December 5, 2022
Assistirei ao jogo do hospital e estarei torcendo muito por cada um de vocês. Boa sorte! pic.twitter.com/3CRI8v6H55
While Pele's fans have been worried about the football icon's health, his daughter recently assured them that her father will comeback home.
Pele "is sick, he is elderly, but at this point he is hospitalized for a lung infection," Kely Arantes Nascimento told the TV channel Globo.
"And when he gets better, he'll come home," she said.
"We are not saying goodbye in the hospital," she insisted, explaining that the respiratory illness was the result of a Covid-19 infection the sporting icon had contracted three weeks ago.
Her sister, Flavia Arantes Nascimento, denied reports from the daily Folha de S.Paulo and ESPN Brazil that Pele was no longer responding to chemotherapy and was now receiving only "palliative care."
She told the news channel that her father was not in the intensive care unit, but a regular ward, and that the family was "tired of receiving condolences" and that the cancer treatment is "delivering results."
"It's really unfair that they're saying he's at the terminal stage. It's not that, believe us," she said.
With AFP inputs