Thirty-One Nil: On the Road With Football's Outsiders: A World Cup OdysseyA&C Black, 22 de mai. de 2014 - 336 páginas WINNER OF THE FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS The story of the immense struggle to qualify for the World Cup, Thirty-One Nil roams from American Samoa to Zambia in a remarkable and insightful journey that gets under the skin of world football. In a tiny, decaying aluminium smelting town in southern Tajikistan, a short drive from a raging war zone, Afghanistan take on Palestine in the first Asian qualifier for the World Cup. Every player on both teams is risking something by playing: their careers, their families, even their lives. Yet, along with thousands of other footballers backed by millions of supporters, they all dream of snatching one of the precious 32 places at the finals; and so begins a three-year epic struggle – long before the usual suspects start their higher-profile qualifying campaigns under the spotlight. Named after the greatest victory (and defeat) that the World Cup qualifiers have ever seen (Australia's 31-0 victory over American Samoa), Thirty-One Nil is the story of how footballers from all corners of the globe begin their journey chasing a place at the 2014 World Cup Finals. It celebrates the part-time priests, princes and hopeless chancers who dream of making it to Brazil, in defiance of the staggering odds stacked against them. It tells the story of teams who have struggled for their very existence through political and social turmoil, from which they will very occasionally emerge into international stardom. From the endlessly humiliated San Marino to lowly Haiti; from war-torn Lebanon to the oppressed and fleet-footed players of Eritrea, in Thirty-One Nil James Montague gets intimately and often dangerously close to some of the world's most extraordinary teams, and tells their exceptional stories. |
Conteúdo
Haiti US Virgin Islands Curaçao | |
Rwanda Eritrea | |
American Samoa Cook Islands Samoa Tonga | |
Lebanon United Arab Emirates | |
Egypt Mozambique | |
Antigua and Barbuda United States | |
Brazil Nigeria Spain Tahiti | |
Romania Hungary | |
Bosnia and Herzegovina Slovakia | |
Iceland Norway | |
Jordan Uruguay | |
The Last Thirtytwo | |
Postscript | |
Acknowledgements | |
Switzerland Albania Kosovo | |
Croatia Serbia | |
Egypt Lebanon Rwanda and Eritrea Reprised | |
Picture Section | |
A Note on the Author | |
Outras edições - Ver todos
Thirty-One Nil: On the Road With Football's Outsiders: A World Cup Odyssey James Montague Visualização parcial - 2014 |
Termos e frases comuns
2014 World Cup Aboutrika Afghanistan Ahlawy Ahly Al Ahly Al-Ahed Albanian American Samoa anthem Antigua and Barbuda Arab ball beat Belgrade Blatter Bob Bradley Bosnia Bradley Brazil Bucker Cairo campaign chants club coach Confederations Cup country’s Croatia crowd Egypt Egyptian Eritrea Eroll Etaeta Fadil fans FIFA FIFA’s flag goal goalkeeper Haiti Haitian huge Hungarian Hungary Iceland international football Israeli Jaiyah Jarun Jay’Lee Jordan Jordanian journalists Kosovar Kosovo league Lebanese Lebanon look match midfielder Mihajlović minutes Mohamed Aboutrika Montserrat Moussa national team Palestine Palestinian pitch play play-off players police political Port president protesters Romania Rongen Rwanda Saelua Salapu says scored Sepp Blatter Serbia Shaqiri sitting soccer sport stadium stands Štimac streets striker Switzerland Tahiti talent Tavares team’s there’s Thomas Rongen tournament UEFA Uruguay victory Virgin Islands watch West Bank World Cup finals World Cup qualification young