|
|
Post by noose on Sept 1, 2011 19:48:51 GMT
NEL (1981)BLURB Cup Magic! 'Football is as much about luck as about ability or application.'All these memorable matches are chosen either for some unexpected twist of fortune or for the improbability of their result. And David Miller, chief sports writer for the Daily Express, has unearthed much new material, talking to players and managers about events behind the scenes.
Sir Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney remember England's grossly inadequate preparations for the astonishing 1950 World Cup against the United States.
Stan Mortensen recalling the 'Matthew's Final', is emphatic that Bolton threw the game away by two erroneous decisions. The authors shows that Hungary lost the 1954 World Cup Final because they revealed their strategy and West Germany did not. And Geoff Hurst's second, decisive, extra-time goal in the 1966 World Cup Final was NOT a goal...
Hands up, I'm not a football fan, I have a passing interest which boils down to that if a game is on the telly and there's enough Italian diving going on, I won't change the channels. So I don;t know the reason for me buying this book, apart from the fact that it was a NEL, but I'll tell you what, I'm glad I did. I've not had as much fun reading a book for ages - and David Miller is merciless in his deconstruction of why such and such a team fucked up. The most interesting one for me was his essay on SCOTLAND vs. PERU in the 1978 World Cup, a period of time which still finds the country scratching its head with puzzlement as to how they believed Ally McLeod wild claims that Scotland could actually win the World Cup. Of course we will always have Archie Gemmill's goal against Holland to warm the cockles - as fondly remembered in ye olde love letter to heroin, Trainspotting. And Scotland have played shite ever since... Anyhoo, the rest of the book makes for brilliant reading - and it should be on everyone's Xmas list.
|
|
