Nick Holt - The Mammoth Book of the World Cup

NICK HOLT has published a number of books on sport, music, film, and other aspects of popular culture. His particular passion is association football or soccer.

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The Mammoth Book of
THE WORLD CUP

NICK HOLT

Constable & Robinson Ltd

5556 Russell Square

London WC1B 4HP

www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the UK by Robinson,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2014

Copyright Nick Holt, 2014

The right of Nick Holt to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication
Data is available from the British Library

UK ISBN: 978-1-47211-046-6 (paperback)

UK ISBN: 978-1-47211-051-0 (ebook)

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First published in the United States in 2014 by Running Press Book Publishers, A Member of the Perseus Books Group

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher.

Books published by Running Press are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail .

US ISBN: 978-0-7624-5224-8

US Library of Congress Control Number: 2013953114

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Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

Running Press Book Publishers

2300 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371

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Printed and bound in the UK

Cover by Toby Clarke

There have been a lot of books published about football in recent years that man Hornby is to blame, the success of Fever Pitch prompted a generation of intelligent football fans and observers to air their views on the games socio-political significance. Articulate and well-conceived theories expounded how the game taught us about the nature of historys conflicts; how football is a mirror for the economic corruption that blights the western political arena; how a nations way of playing the game represents a profound statement about its people; how a passion for football can lift underpaid, socially marginalised people out of a spiral of neglect and poverty. Mostly claptrap, but interesting and well written.

What takes place on the field is, however, my primary motivation. The politics and the scandals and the off-field shenanigans in Colombian jewellery shops provide the sequins and baubles, but the football is the party dress, be it the beige of 1962 and 2010 or the Vivienne Westwood-like extravagance of 1958 or 1970. A naff analogy, possibly, but this is the sporting event that is invariably hailed in the modern era as The Greatest Show on Earth yes, the capacity of the football authorities and the compliant media to over-hype the game has reached epic proportions. The 2010 World Cup was like watching a Cecil B. DeMille movie; huge budgets, no expense spared on costume and makeup, eye-catching lead players. But like DeMilles movies the end product was stale and uninspiring. Its to be hoped the 2014 tournament will restore ones faith.

Analysing football is a little like being a film critic sorry to push the cinema theme but stay with me, Im on a roll. The best team doesnt always win the World Cup, just as the best directors dont always make the best movies winning the World Cup is often about coming to the boil at the right time, finding the right man to play the starring role (Paolo Rossi in 1982) or having the best ensemble cast (Spain in 2010). Like a film critic, a football writer reserves the right to disagree with the generally held opinion. James Cameron hasnt made a good film since 1992 (Titanic and Avatar were appalling abuses of enormous amounts of money); Englands World Cup achievements under Sven-Gran Eriksson were actually quite impressive, not a national disgrace; Johnny Depp is a terrible actor (a Cristiano Ronaldo step-over without the rest of Ronaldo); the modern Spanish side are not the best ever, theyre just better than the mediocre competition, over-rated by a handful of pretentious purists. Read on Ill prove it. (Of course I wont, but I will attempt to justify it except the Johnny Depp bit; I actually rather like him and probably wont mention him again.)

There are technical observations to be made and facts to be adhered to. Germany won 10, blah blah blah, the referee missed a clear handball, blah blah blah. But behind the facts there are stories; mysterious sins of omission, injuries to key players, coaching volte faces, they all contribute to the ongoing saga. Why did Brazil not contribute in 1966, despite winning the two previous tournaments and the next one? Why did Alf Ramsey take off Bobby Charlton in 1970? Why did Johann Cruyff not go to the 1978 World Cup? Why did one of Germanys greatest players never play in the World Cup? They are all questions that affected the destiny of the trophy. There are titbits, too; I love a titbit; small facts or incidents that didnt change the course of anything much, but give one a little frisson of excitement on discovery. The rubbing of the hands with glee when we discover that Wayne Rooneys grandmother played in the first ladies match at Anfield or Andrei Shevchenko was born in a Soviet Gulag to a dissident journalist. Both of these are untrue, by the way, but there are dozens like them, no less startling, that are true.

Football fans like their stats, so there are lots of tables, some with obvious stuff, some with more quirky observations. The need for Best ofs and Teams of are satisfied, to spark the popular pre-match pub game of Right, whats your best-ever Holland team... No? Never played that? Oh dear, I appear to have misjudged my audience...