Author(s): Jonathan Wilson

Sport

Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistuta, Juan Roman Riquelme, Sergio Aguero, Lionel Messi ...Argentina is responsible for some of the greatest footballers on the planet. Their rich,volatile history is made up of both the sublime (Messi, Jose Pekerman's 2006 World Cup squad, Maradona) and the brutally pragmatic (Carlos Tevez; Antonio Rattin's mates in 1966; Maradona). Argentina is a nation obsessed with football, and Jonathan Wilson, having lived there on and off during the last decade, is ideally placed to chart the five stages of Argentinian football: from the appropriation of the British game, the cult of the gambeta (a kind of slaloming style of dribbling) and la nuestra (the joy of attack) through the loss of home-grown stars to Europe, a hardening into 'anti-futbol' (Alf Ramsey's 'animals'), the fusing of beauty and efficacy under Cesar Luis Menotti, and the ludicrous (albeit underachieving) creative talent of recent times. Put simply, Angels With Dirty Faces will be a book no self-respecting football fan can do without.