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Football Against the Enemy (Paperback)

Format:	Paperback 256 pages

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Throughout the world, football is a potent force in the lives of billions of people. Focusing national, political and cultural identities, football is the medium through which the world's hopes and fears, passions and hatreds are expressed. Simon Kuper travelled to 22 countries from South Africa to Italy, from Russia to the USA, to examine the way football has shaped them. At the same time he tried to find out what lies behind each nation's distinctive style of play, from the carefree self-expression of the Brazilians to the anxious calculation of the Italians. During his journeys he met an extraordinary range of players, politicians and - of course - the fans themselves, all of whom revealed in their different ways the unique place football has in the life of the planet.

Book details

Published
06/11/2003

Publisher
Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )

ISBN
9780752848778

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UK Kirkus review

Simon Kuper, a Dutch-speaking journalist, set out to find the links between politics and football around the world. Kuper's deadpan delivery and keen eye for the absurd make his book fascinating and funny, never worthy or dull. In Cameroon he hears how football star Roger Milla attempted to organize a match between rainforest pygmies and the bushmen of the Kalahari; in his native Holland he notes TV viewers celebrating a victory over Germany by running into the street and throwing their bicycles in the air; the great Argentinian coach, Helenio Herrera, is interviewed in his mansion in Venice, where broken windows in the ballroom signify the kickabouts he and his son enjoy there when it is too wet to play in the garden. Football Against the Enemy is full of such vivid details. Review by Harry Pearson, whose books include 'A Tall Man in a Low Land' (Kirkus UK)