It is biggest sporting event in the world, watched by billions, in a game played on every scrap of land on the planet. It is every boy's dream to win it. Yet just seven countries, from only two continents, ever have. Why? &, most importantly, how?
How to Win the World Cup takes apart all the previous 18 editions of football's pre-eminent competition to look at the sporting DNA as well as the vital statistics of winning teams. It debunks myths & turns accepted truths on their heads in search of the essence of victory. Home advantage helps, surely? Only once in the past three decades. Well, the best team wins, then; it's only seven matches, after all. Not since Brazil in 1970
- & don't ask a Dutchman.
By going beyond tactics & teams to examine factors as diverse as team spirit & the choice of captain, media hype & public expectation, the political climate & even the weather (luck, penalties & cheating play a part too, of course), Graham Mc Coll has produced a World Cup book unlike any to have gone before it. & at the end of the day, he looks at what the 32 nations who have qualified for South Africa 2010 are bringing to the table, & if they have what it takes.
Do England have the recipe for success? Can they win the World Cup, for the first time in 44 years? You read it here first.