RIO DE JANEIRO - 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 ... If he doesn't invite me, I don't go.

"Unfortunately people say more than they know," Pele said. "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."

FIFA and the local organizing committee (LOC), which Teixeira also heads, issued a statement saying they were pleased with Pele's new role after his news conference at the Museum of Modern Art, but contradicted his comments about not being invited.

"Because of his importance in the history of football, he was called in April to be not only a guest of honor but mainly to accompany FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke on stage during the ceremony," the statement said.

"However, Pele responded to the invitation, by email, saying he had other commitments on that date. The event is now complete and gains even more in importance."

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 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.

Earlier on Friday, Blatter said he was planning to meet the outspoken Teixeira, president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), over remarks he had 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.

Reuters

(China Daily 07/31/2011 page7)