Angels with dirty faces : the footballing history of Argentina (engelsk)

Argentina is responsible for some of the greatest footballers on the planet. Their rich, volatile history is made up of both the sublime and the ruthlessly pragmatic. It 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 phases of Argentinian football: the appropriation of the British game; the goldenage of 'la nuestra' - the exuberant style of playing that developed as Juan Perón led the country into isolation; a hardening into the brutal methods of 'anti-fútbol'; the fusing of beauty and efficacy under César Luis Menotti; and the ludicrous (albeit underachieveing) creative talent of recent times.