Pelé's genius lay not in his ball control but in his ability to make the ball his companion. He ran without it, over it, around it, in front and behind it , knowing at all times were it was going, and what it would do . Watch him dribble and move with the ball and he never touches it, when he does not need to. That is the rare and sublime magic that makes him a legend that words will never be able to fully describe. He could catch a ball on his chest, caress it with his knee and then propel it off the end of his boot without it once hitting the ground because it truly was his friend. He knew what it wanted to do and he created the perfect conditions in which it could weave it's own magic. That and a smile that could melt icebergs will forever mark Edson Arantes do Nascimento out as O Rei. The King is dead, long live the King.