Angels With Dirty Faces: The Footballing History of Argentina

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p. 240: Carmine Giuliano: a former Italian Camorrista who was the boss of the powerful Giuliano clan based in the district of Forcella, Naples. It’s estimated as many as 500 babies were taken from dissident parents and adopted by military families. And, as the early sections of the book make clear, football was integral to the early myth-making of a country still trying to form an identity having only gained independence in the 19th Century. It is like the history of the Argentinian national team, River Plate, Boca Juniors, Newel Old Boys, Estudiante, Velez Sarsfield, etc, all combined into one big narration. I did notice Wilson’s tendency to over-describe the physical features of certain characters within the book – though I’m sure there is nothing sinister in that and he is simply reflecting a northern European impression of the Latin look and demeanour which has been the subject of certain stereotype.

Sadly these moments are brief, and the majority of the book reads like a very thorough report of each year in the country’s footballing (and socio-political) history.That famous confrontation between Antonio Rattín and Rudolf Kreitlein – which held up the match for several minutes, depriving one team of their charismatic leader while giving their opponents a helping hand towards a moment of destiny – was among the most prominent of several incidents that have shaped the footballing relationship between England and Argentina. It is these stories which explain the ongoing fascination with the unique, flawed phenomenon that is Argentinian football, and it is these stories which will stay with me after reading this book. Wilson’s analysis of how Argentinian football developed is punctuated by humorous and unusual human interest stories, such as that of Imre Hirschl, the Hungarian butcher who somehow ended up leading River Plate to two league titles in the thirties, or of Aldo Pedro Poy, who keeps up an annual tradition of recreating the diving header he scored for Rosario Central in a semi-final in 1971.

Jonathan Wilson, having lived there on and off during the last decade, is ideally placed to chart the sport’s development in a country that, perhaps more than any other, lives and breathes football, its theories and its myths. To access your ebook(s) after purchasing, you can download the free Glose app or read instantly on your browser by logging into Glose. In particular, he draws attention to ‘La Maquina’ (the machine), the River Plate side of the forties whose forward quintet combined to create one of the all-time great attacking teams, and who have perhaps not received their due as a result of falling between World Cups and pre-dating televised football. And for this one, it begins with Watson Hutton circa 1880, and continues on Motti then Maradona then Messi.Angels with Dirty Faces is a memoir of a reality so crucial and transformative that the state is desperate to keep it locked out of our collective consciousness. This is an excellent book, which offers a potted social and political history of Argentina as well as of its football. Writing with sorrow, and anger, and courageous hope, she forces us to reconsider what we mean by ‘justice,’ and by what endeavors its cause might be advanced, if never finally achieved.

England is a football-loving country, for sure, but Argentina is truly mad for the game and this book exposes just how deep that passions runs – this can lead to extreme violence at times, both on and off the pitch, but also massive over-achievement (two world cups and 5 finals in all) – and at least three of the greatest players of all time (we must include Alfredo Di Stefano). Seven of his other books have been shortlisted for football book of the year and he has also won the Premio Antonio Ghirelli in Italy. Behind The Iron Curtain and Inverting The Pyramid are two I’d recommend to any of you who enjoy looking at the game through a different type of lens and likewise much of the work produced via his own enterprise The Blizzard, known for an intellectual view of the national game.

p. 58: "He played at a time when soccer was played for the glory of love, and was also part of the time when soccer was played for the love of glory. Imarisha pushes us to give up easy distinctions between innocence and guilt, good and evil, and to experience punishment and imprisonment as the messy, complex systems they are.

It is still full of incident and interest, especially for readers like me, who know only the barest outline of the South American game. The conflict between idealism and pragmatism, menottisme and bilardisme, was reflected in the very different philosophies of Argentina's two World Cup winning coaches, Cesar Luis Menotti in 1978, Carlos Bilardo in 1986, yet despite his socialist principles Menotti was compromised by the fact that his team's triumph on home soil allowed the Junta to score a valuable propaganda victory. At a first glance, it’s almost impossible to see the glories and despairs of its football matches alongside the country’s hyperinflation rate and series of political turmoils. The grandeur of El Monumental (home of River Plate) and La Bombonera (home of Boca Juniors) has declined to an extent and the stadiums have become relics of the past as the best Argentine players succumb to the allure (and money) that Europe has to offer.Within the context of post-imperialism from which this young country sprung, Peronism and the military juntas we can put in context phenomenons such as Maradona (especially Maradona) and to a lesser degree Messi ‘ but also the cultural thinking about the game veering from European pragmatism, occasionally brutalism and the gaucho spirit which is deep in the soul of Argentine football. Within a month, however, Maradona would be raising his hand above Peter Shilton to score a goal that reopened all the old wounds. Difficult as it is to pit passionate countries against each other, Argentina would hold up its own in beautiful godhood.