Angels with Dirty Faces
by Jonathan Wilson, Orion, £20
Some of the best sports books of recent times have sought to survey the football culture of entire nations. David Winner’s Brilliant Orange, about Dutch football, and Futebol: A Brazilian Way of Life, by Alex Bellos, are two of this sub-genre’s finest examples. Now Jonathan Wilson has thrown his history of Argentine football into the mix, and it’s a worthy addition.
Wilson is a cerebral and knowledgeable sports journalist. His book, Inventing the Pyramid, was a thorough exploration of the complexities of tactics and he recently appeared on BBC television’s fiendishly difficult quiz show, Only Connect. And what he gives us in Angels with Dirty Faces is a not just a history of the game in Argentina, but also an exhaustive account of all the cultural, social and political contexts in which moments such as the country’s World Cup victories in 1978 and 1986 took place.
