Review
------
'Wilson, as you would expect from the author of several important books on football history and tactics, goes
far deeper than the stereotype ... fine-grained and often original research . . . as a writer who knows and appreciates
Argentina, he is prepared to take on the more demanding task of telling the story in parallel with that of the country's
turbulent political and social evolution . . . densely detailed but absorbing book'
'Ambitious . . . [Wilson] has a fine eye for detail and a solid grasp of the big picture. He writes confidently about
the sport, including tactics and strategies, but also about social and political questions . . . A sprawling, vibrant
book about soccer in Argentina, a country where the sport is every bit as important and reflective of the society as it
is anywhere in the world'
'From Alfredo Di Stefano to Lionel Messi, Argentine football get the Jonathan Wilson in this exhaustive,
illuminating history. HBO could make this into a series'
'Jonathan Wilson's INVERTING THE PYRAMID is easily the best game about soccer I've ever read, a
treatise on tactics that's worth a hundred dismal 'autobiographies'. Now Wilson has turned his considerable powers to
one country and its obsession with the game: ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES. It's a history of Argentina as reflected in the
sport, and how life in Argentina has been reflected in the sport . . . This is the kind of book you don't see too often,
an attempt to use a broad canvas and to include detail far beyond team sheets and scorelines . . . Conceiving of and
writing a book like this is an achievement in and of itself'
'Wilson is one of soccer's most respected historians and anoraks and here he delivers the definitive history of the
beautiful game in Argentina'
'Wilson is a cerebral and knowledgeable sports journalist . . . and what he gives us in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES is not
just a history of the game in Argentina, but also an exhaustive account of all the cultural, social and political
context in which moments such as the country's World Cup victories in 1978 and 1986 took place ... the extraordinary
attention to detail will reward the dedicated reader as he serves up reams of entertaining titbits, involving one-handed
strikers, buried chickens and plenty more, alongside serious consideration of the junta's reign of terror and other
instances of Argentine discord'
'Jonathan Wilson's enthralling and often disturbing history of Argentinian football . . . Wilson, one of the best of a
new generation of football writers eager to to emphasise the bigger picture, untangles the social, economic and
political narratives . . . He offers a nuanced examination of the extraordinary talents of Maradona and Lionel Messi,
"the all-time great who never played at home". He deconstructs the Anglocentric interpretations of both 1966 and 1986 .
. . Wilson's vignettes of former legends are well observed . . . The author is at his best when he is dissecting
Argentinian football's idealised, aesthetically pleasing past, the psychodrama of its modern game, and its chequered
football history'
Immensely readable and wonderfully researched history of a nation and its long-term love for the beautiful game . . .
after reading this excellent history, you'll be convinced that it won't be long before they add to their two World Cup
titles
The definitive history of Argentinian football
'Epic in sweep ... a history of Argentinian football that is also a truly magnificent history of that country ... an
unfailingly fascinating read'
Book Description
----------------
The definitive history of Argentinian football from the award-winning author of Inverting the Pyramid