Paulo Silas do Prado Pereira

SILAS: THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD IS TO PLAY IN JESUS' TEAM

There was a span of fifteen years since I started kicking the ball together with my twin brother, Paulo Pereira, and the other kids of Vila Teixeira, around Campinas, where we lived at the time and my first chance to play professionally in the Brazilian squad. My brother and I were the youngest of nine children in our family. Mom died when we were four, but her absence was somehow compensated for by my four older sisters and daddy's dedication to us. Dad had retired from the Railroad Company and raised all his nine kids in the ways of the Lord.

Ely Carlos, my oldest brother, was himself a good soccer player, and through his influence I had the chance to test play for the Sao Paulo soccer team. I was accepted and started playing in all basic categories. As a junior player, I soon called the attention of Cilinho, who was the coach of the main squad at the time. He was promoting some changes in the team and was giving a chance to our own players. I played quite well in my first game with the pros, and I soon became the main player with the number 9 team jersey.

I was called to play for the Brazilian Junior Squad and I became world champion in Moscow in 1985, when we won over Spain 1 x 0. After the final game we threw a big celebration and the best players received the much desired awards. I was surprised to receive the Gold Ball that year, as the world's best Junior player. After that our team also became the champion in the Sao Paulo tournament of 1985, and I was immediately invited to play for the Brazilian main squad in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. But every time people started talking about cutting down on some players' names, mine was included. Whether or not I would go to Mexico didn't depend on me anymore. I continued to give my best shot during the training sessions, always trusting in God. The day Tele, our head coach, announced the names of the selected players to play in the world Cup, my name was included, even if I had to sit at the bench.

My greatest moment at the start of my career with the main Brazilian squad came during a game which was valid for the World Cup, after we came to a draw with France, 1 x 1. That was the highlight of any soccer player's entire career. In the final moments of the second (extended) game, I got the ball and passed it on to Careca, who returned the ball to me. I took the ball and ran with it for a while. Then I noticed that there was no one there to stop me so I kicked the ball as best I could! It was all right except that the ball hit the goal poles and went out! If that ball had hit the inside of the net, the story of that world cup would have been different. The narrator of Globo TV said, with tears in his eyes, that "destiny" wanted Brazil eliminated from the cup. Somebody had to be blamed. We had hit three balls against the poles and we had also lost three penalty kicks. So "destiny" took the blame for our failure. But that didn't change anything for me or for any of the other players.

Actually the only move that really changed the direction of my life happened when I accepted Christ as my Savior. My destiny, which before was death, is now the eternal life I have in Christ. The peace, the inner satisfaction, the sense of direction and purpose in my life - all this gives me the assurance I need that the most important thing in the world is not to play in the Brazilian soccer squad, but in Jesus' team instead.

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