Nearly Men

Aidan Williams

Description

The Nearly Men tells the fascinating stories of some of the most revered international football teams of all time. Through the history of the World Cup there are many sides who thrilled us all with their elegance and style, or who revolutionised the game, only to fail when it mattered most. They are the teams that could, and in some cases perhaps should, have won the World Cup, yet remain memorable for what they did achieve as well as what they didn't. They all left a lasting legacy, be that of unfulfilled potential, crushed dreams or the artistry they produced that could have seen them prevail. Their exploits and accomplishments are frequently hailed more than those of the winners. The Nearly Men celebrates these teams: what made them great, what saw them fail, the legacy they left and why onlookers remember them so fondly. It is a tale of frustration and disappointment, but also of footballing beauty and lasting legacy, in homage to the kind of greatness that isn't defined by victory.

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 02 mai 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781801502580
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2022
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Aidan Williams, 2022
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Print ISBN 9781801500937
eBook ISBN 9781801502580
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Argentina 1930
2. Austria 1934
3. Brazil 1950
4. Hungary 1954
5. Portugal 1966
6. Netherlands 1974 and 1978
7. Brazil 1982
8. Denmark 1986
9. Italy 1990
10. Yugoslavia 1994
11. Netherlands 1998
12. Argentina 2014
Epilogue
Bibliography
Photos
For Sarah, Elliot and Iris
Acknowledgements
THERE ARE, of course, a huge number of people to thank for helping me make this book a reality. My colleagues at These Football Times have been hugely inspirational, influential and helpful. In particular, my thanks goes to Omar Saleem for giving me the platform to develop and showcase my writing online and in magazines, enabling it to progress from an interest to a hobby to a passion. And to Stuart Horsfield, Steven Scragg and Gary Thacker for the hours spent chatting about subjects like this on podcasts, and for inspiring and encouraging this project. The simple advice to write the book you would like to read is the best guidance anyone could give. The rest of the These Football Times community have been equally supportive and encouraging throughout.
Many people have directly assisted in the research and development of the various subjects covered in the book, all taking the time and effort to share their knowledge. The Dutch football writer Elko Born was very helpful on several chapters, as was the Brazilian journalist Fernando Duarte, both providing an excellent local perspective. So too did Neboj a Markovi on matters Yugoslav and Ricardo Serrado on Portugal, both with hugely valuable insight. David Bailey helped add thoughts and detail to my Hungarian sections, as did Richard Hall about Italy and Tom Middler for Austria. Dean Lockyer assisted with some background on his specialism, the 1930 World Cup.
Dr Peter Watson, South American Studies Fellow at Leeds University, gave a huge amount of helpful insight into the wider implications discussed in all of the South American chapters. I m grateful too to Chris Lee for providing some contacts, while others fell my way courtesy of the podcasts I m lucky enough to be involved in at These Football Times .
Jane Camillin at Pitch Publishing must be thanked for giving me the chance to have my thoughts published, and for all the assistance throughout. As must Duncan Olner, whose artistic talents produced a wonderful cover design from little more than my vague suggestions.
And finally, to my wife, Sarah, for encouraging and supporting me throughout, and for reading the drafts on a subject she strangely doesn t share my passion for. And to my children Elliot and Iris who think it s all terribly exciting.
Introduction
Maybe we were the real winners in the end. I think the world remembers our team more.
Johan Cruyff
CLOSE YOUR eyes and let your mind wander through the images of World Cups past. Picture the decisive incidents, the great teams, the magical moments. You may see Diego Maradona surging through the England defence on his way to delivering the 1986 World Cup. Maybe you see Pel and Carlos Alberto in 1970, or Geoff Hurst s hat-trick and Bobby Moore lifting the trophy in 1966. Perhaps you see Kylian Mbapp , Mario G tze, Andr s Iniesta or Zinedine Zidane delivering glory.
Those are the images of victory. Decisive moments that led to the claiming of what remains the most iconic and sought-after trophy in football. But I ll wager you also saw Zico, S crates and Falc o in 1982, slain by Paolo Rossi s bolt from the blue.
Or perhaps you saw the beauty of the 1974 Netherlands, the elegant cool of Johan Cruyff and the rhapsody in orange. Maybe you saw Italians slumped in defeat in their home tournament in 1990, or Eus bio cracking in a blistering strike in 1966, or Dennis Bergkamp achieving perfection in 1998.
In every montage of the victorious moments, the images are interspersed with moments of magnificence achieved by those who did not walk off with the glory, those whose journeys gave us magical memories, but ultimate frustration. A World Cup contains many compelling stories and many iconic moments; some of the winners, some of the losers.
Many teams leave a World Cup with thoughts of what might have been. A twist of fate here and there and the outcome may have been different; perhaps a defeat avoided, a narrow win gained, or progression to a later round. For most, this is restricted to these more minor moments. For a select group of teams though, the thoughts of what might have been are focused on the final glory. There are a group of beaten teams through the World Cup s glorious history who left the tournament thinking that it could, and in some cases should, have been they who lifted the prize; they who the world feted as champions; they who left the World Cup confirmed as the world s finest.
Some of these teams are the most iconic in World Cup history, producing many of the most memorable moments - the images your mind may have pictured at the start of this introduction. They are memorable for what they did achieve as well as what they didn t. They left us with a lasting legacy, be that of unfulfilled potential, of crushed dreams, or of the magic they produced that could have seen them prevail.
Some such teams fell at the last, within agonising touching distance of that beautiful golden trophy. Others were defeated before reaching the final denouement, cut down before their time, denying both them and us of more moments to sate our appetite for aesthetic elegance or undisputed supremacy. But each lives on in our minds as some of the world s greatest.
We can all speculate about who might or should have won each World Cup. From the first event in 1930 through to the most recent tournament there will always be claims that the wrong team prevailed, that the real winners, the best team, fell short. Indeed, how often have the most lauded teams won the World Cup? Brazil in 1970, certainly. Argentina and Maradona in 1986 perhaps. Beyond that? Not many. So often, the most beautiful, those who thrilled us the most, producing art rather than simply football, seemed destined to fail.
It almost pains me to think of some of the teams whose destiny remained unfulfilled, leaving me wanting to replay the day their dreams were crushed and to be able to install the just result to take the place of the actual one. I see the pain of Pusk s and Kocsis in 1954, the frustration of Cruyff and Van Hanegem in 1974, the bereft beauty of Zico and S crates in 1982, the tears of Baresi and Donadoni in 1990, and dream of what could have been, of a World Cup history where greatness was bestowed on those who were truly the greatest.
But alas, sport doesn t work this way. Part of the joy of football is the fact that the best team doesn t always win. It s all the greater for this, of course, as the sense of unpredictability gives it the intoxicating allure, the very essence of competition and daring to dream, that we love so much. As such, the history of the World Cup is replete with teams whose greatness remains despite not lifting that glorious golden trophy.
Greatness cannot be counted in trophies alone. I would argue that true greatness is found in the legacy of those whose memory lasts through the years. The victor is not always remembered as fondly as the vanquished. Even the greats can be beaten and this is particularly pronounced in knockout competitions such as the World Cup, where a single error or piece of misfortune can have devastating consequences. The result doesn t always reflect the performance, but this can leave us feeling denied what we feel was the deserved outcome. Others may not have produced groundbreaking artistry, but seemed destined for glory, swept on a wave of euphoria and certainty, only for it all to fall apart when destiny called.
This then feeds into the enduring allure of the question what if? that appeals to so many. The appeal of the unknown and what might have been, where things turn out the way we wanted them to. This book is a tribute to those teams, some very familiar, others perhaps less so, who gave us so much but left without the glory of victory. I wrote it because it s a subject that fascinates me and because I wanted to know more about these teams, and what better way to do that than to research and write about them? But more than that, it was to celebrate the greatness that can be achieved not through victory, but through the inspiration and influence they bestowed and the enduring legacy they left behind.
What became clear in most of these stories was that, far from being a comfortable progression up until the point it went wrong, frequently in the final itself or the semi-final, most teams that we view as being vastly unfortunate not to win the World Cup had ridden their luck to some extent to get as far as they had. It s very rare that one side will dominate to such an extent that progression is seamless. Many champions, as well as those who