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Pele back in the limelight with Cosmos

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Tim Noonan

In his new role as honorary president of the New York Cosmos, Pele yesterday showed a Hong Kong audience he still had some moves, despite retiring more than 30 years ago.

Dubbed the world's greatest player, Pele led the Cosmos contingent into town and was moved to action at a press conference when asked about rule changes he would like to see in today's game.

'I would like to see players who foul around the penalty area forced to stand in a one-man wall in front of the upcoming free-kick,' the 70-year-old Brazilian said, before demonstrating how he would snake through a defence. 'The last defender commits a foul, but they put all nine players who I have passed in the wall against me. Everybody I pass is now in front of me. That is not fair.'

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Pele raised concerns over players' inflated salaries, powerful agents and the use of goal-line technology.

'Players should never forget to play for the love of the game and the team,' he said. 'Sometimes I tease players and say they earn in one year what took me 10 years.'

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He said agents did not care if players were good or not. 'They just want to sell them and get the money. It's a danger for the future of football.'

He also said more time was needed to decide if hi-tech aids were essential to rule on penalties and balls crossing the goal line. 'Football is not Formula One or tennis. It's about quick movement. You cannot stop a counter-attack to see if it was a goal.'

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