Polley :Abedi Pele’s skills were par excellence

Twenty-four years after retiring from active football, former Black Stars striker, Prince Opoku Polley, has singled out Abedi Ayew Pele as the most skillful teammate he ever played with during his illustrious career.

While describing his bosom friend, Tony Yeboah, as a powerful striker who made goal-scoring very easy for him (Polley) in both competitive and friendly matches, and hailed Frimpong Manso as a pillar in defence, he was emphatic that the Maestro was the one who brightened his career with his deft skills, speed, power, ball distribution and crisp passes.

“In terms of skills, Pele was par excellence. His dribbling skills were such that anytime he had the ball, he succeeded in taking on two or more opponents with ease to create chances for strikers to score.

“Beside his skills, Pele was also gifted with speed and was very fit,” the former Kotoko striker told the Graphic Sports Online in an exclusive interview.

“Even as a player in the same team, you love to watch him anytime he was with the ball. It was so lovely because he could use the ball to perform unique scenes like a magician, which was unusual in football matches,” Prince Polley, who played with Pele in the Black Stars between 1992 and 1996 recalled with nostalgia.

Recounting some of the exploits of Pele in a match against Senegal in 1994, Polley said in the course of the match, Pele picked a pass on the flanks and dribbled all his opponents to the edge of the box. He said Pele’s marker, who was hard on his heels, was eager to push the ball out of play, but in a dramatic fashion, Pele put his right leg in front of the ball, back-heeled it and lifted it over his marker to send a pass to him (Polley) in the box.

”The goalkeeper was not expecting a pass from such an acute angle, so before he was aware, the ball was in the vital area. And in an attempt to save the sticky situation, the goalkeeper injured himself by hitting his head against the goal post.

“It was a masterpiece by all standards which only star players could enact. Such magical display of skills are rare in football but Abedi succeeded in creating them. He always introduced unique skills during our days to create a sense of fear among players of the opposing team.

“This was because he was gifted with awesome skills which always electrified arenas to entertain football fans,” he added.

Recalling the encounter between Germany and Ghana in 1993 dubbed the “ Bochum disaster”, for instance, Polley said despite losing 1-6 to Germany in a friendly match at Ruhrstadion in Bochum in April 14, 1993, Pele was undoubtedly the most proficient player in that match.

According to Polley, the tremendous dribbling skills, proficient ball distribution and firing power exhibited by Pele against a world class team such as Germany proved that he was in a class of his own.

"We lost the match due to some technical errors when Frimpong Manso got injured in the latter part of the game and at a time Ghana was up by a goal, but the presence of Pele and Tony Yeboah fired us up to play far better than our opponents.” he noted.

“Playing with Pele in particular was a blessing because it offered me great opportunity to display my potential in goal-scoring,” Polley acknowledged.