Brazil of course have now turned into a sort of rival for Barcelona as a global franchise, something for people who don't always watch a lot of football. I did notice Wilson’s tendency to over-describe the physical features of certain characters within the book.

He is, many Argentinians say, a Catalan at heart – brilliant and a teamplayer, but not a true Pibe and not adored like Diego was. His two goals against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter final in Mexico City showed both sides of the national footballing character - to that extent he was a worthy successor to the Angels With Dirty Faces. Jonathan Wilson, having lived there on and off during the last decade, is ideally placed to chart the sport’s development in a country that, perhaps more than any other, lives and breathes football, its theories and its myths.The contretemps between Diego Simeone and David Beckham in Saint-Étienne in 1998 seemed just one more example of an eternal conflict between Argentinian wiles and English naivety. Regardless of the state of Argentina’s economy or government, it seemed as if football united Argentina, once again. Estudiantes’ attempt at a lap of honour was thwarted when objects rained down from the Old Trafford terraces. Given my somewhat relevant football career…where I played and reffed in middle school…learning about football style and strategy was super interesting such as ‘la nuestra’ and ‘gambeta,’ though I can see how the book would be a difficult read for those who are unfamiliar/uninterested in the jargon.

Fascinating overview of the football history and surrounding socio-political background of Argentina.My abiding memories of the World Cup are waiting to see what Brazil sides and what Argentina sides were going to turn, because I started watching the World Cup this meant players you might have heard of but rarely if ever got the chance to see. p. 240: Carmine Giuliano: a former Italian Camorrista who was the boss of the powerful Giuliano clan based in the district of Forcella, Naples. Another worrying development is that whereas Europe and South America had always been so evenly matched in World and Intercontinental Cups, the South Americans enjoying the slightest of advantages overall in both club and international competitions, Europe has won the last four World Cups and eight successive Club World Cups, emphasising the continent's unhealthy dominance of the global game.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Argentina was on course to become one of the wealthiest countries on earth. Although dense, certain sections of the book are compelling, namely the more contemporary chapters; the fury of Argentina‘s World Cup victory on home soil in 1978, the enigma and addiction of El Diego, the journey of Marcelo Bielsa, and of course, the rise of Leo Messi and his seismic impact on modern football from the mid-2000s. This was perhaps an even greater achievement than the 1986 victory, given the huge pressure (Menotti chain smoked throughout the whole of every match, famously). In my view, the last three sections of the book are slightly weaker than what comes before, as they focus (perhaps inevitably) heavily on the stories of Maradona and Messi. It is also a biography of the legends such as Maradona and Messi, and the many great coaches such as Cesar Luis Menotti, Carlos Bilardo, and the ever eccentric and influential Marcello Bielsa.

As the title suggests, Argentinian football has often been characterised by the spirit of the ‘Pibe’, which is a picaresque attitude to life (exemplified by a certain player above all).

The three lives in this creative nonfiction account are united by the presence of actual harm—sometimes horrific violence. Napisać sześciuset stronicową książkę na, było nie było hermetyczny, temat jakim jest historia piłki nożnej w obcym kraju, w taki sposób aby czytelnik podczas lektury nie umarł z nudów, a wręcz dał się wessać w opowieść, to nie lada wyczyn. Całe szczęście Jonathan Wilson okazał się w tym temacie profesorem, a jego aniołowie mogą posłużyć za podręcznik. Within the context of post-imperialism from which this young country sprung, Peronism and the military juntas we can put in context phenomenons such as Maradona (especially Maradona) and to a lesser degree Messi ‘ but also the cultural thinking about the game veering from European pragmatism, occasionally brutalism and the gaucho spirit which is deep in the soul of Argentine football.

Football was first imported to Argentina, as elsewhere, by British immigrants, and Wilson gives prominence to Glaswegian schoolteacher Alexander Watson Hutton in organising structured games which led to the formation of a league in 1891 (making it the oldest football league outside Britain). This is a book that begins in 1535 with Spanish conquistadores, so sometimes a whole chapter on how San Lorenzo beat some Bolivian team in the Copa Libertadores can feel a little trite.