RIO DE JANEIRO, July 29 (Reuters) – Pele continued his long-running feud with Ricardo Teixeira when he was unveiled on Friday as the face of Brazil’s 2014 World Cup after the Brazilian FA chief had snubbed him ahead of Saturday’s draw for the qualifying competition.
Teixeira did not invite him to the draw, the first major milestone on the way to the World Cup finals, but Pele will be there anyway after Brazil President Dilma Rousseff appointed him as the country’s international World Cup ambassador this week.
Pele, 70, said: “You only go to a party if you are invited. If I wasn’t invited, it’s logical I wouldn’t go. He is president of the federation…he decides who to invite or not… If he doesn’t invite me, I don’t go.
“I don’t think this controversy is good for Brazil,” Pele added.
“Unfortunately people say more than they know… There’s always some confusion or misunderstanding when he (Teixeira) replies or gives an interview.
“I hope from now on we can clear everything up and we can work properly for the World Cup.”
The animosity between Pele, widely regarded as the world’s greatest player, and Teixeira has its roots in the early 1990s when Pele was critical of Teixeira’s then father-in-law Joao Havelange, president of FIFA at the time.
Havelange snubbed Pele by not inviting him when the draw for the 1994 World Cup finals was made in Las Vegas in late 1993 but with history appearing to repeat itself current FIFA head Sepp Blatter has stepped in as a possible peacemaker.
Blatter is planning to meet the outspoken Teixeira, president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), over remarks he has made against England and for snubbing Pele.
Teixeira, 64, a FIFA executive committee member who has been surrounded by controversy for years, recently accused the English of being “pirates” saying they “could go to hell.”
On Friday he refused to talk to English journalists, calling them “corrupt” after a media scuffle involving his entourage following a news conference.
Blatter told reporters that Teixeira’s criticism of England was not good for FIFA’s image.
Blatter said: “Sure I will speak to him but I have already said once, I’m not the man who is responsible for the moral or ethical approach of the members of FIFA or the members of the executive committee. I’m not their conscience.”
Blatter added: “It is his responsibility, what he is doing. I am not so sure that all of that is in my spirit of fair play.”
Teixeira is upset with the English after David Triesman, the former head of the English FA, accused him in a Parliamentary inquiry of asking for a bribe in return for his vote for England’s bid to stage the 2018 World Cup finals.
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