From the war-ravaged streets of Sarajevo, where turning up for training involved dodging snipers' bullets, to the crumbling splendor of Budapest's Bozsik Stadium, where the likes of Puskas and Kocsis masterminded the fall of England, the landscape of Eastern Europe has changed immeasurably since the fall of communism. Jonathan Wilson has traveled extensively behind the old Iron Curtain, viewing life beyond the fall of the Berlin Wall through the lens of soccer. Where once the state-controlled teams of the Eastern bloc passed their way with crisp efficiency—a sort of communist version of total soccer—to considerable success on the European and international stages, today the beautiful game in the East has been opened up to the free market, and throughout the region a sense of chaos pervades. The threat of totalitarian interference no longer remains; but in its place mafia control is generally accompanied with a crippling lack of funds. Jonathan Wilson goes in search of the spirit of Hungary's Golden Squad of the early 1950s; charts the disintegration of the soccer superpower that was the former Yugoslavia; follows a sorry tale of corruption, mismanagement, and Armenian cognac through the Caucasuses; reopens the case of Russia's greatest soccer player, Eduard Streltsov; and talks to Jan Tomaszewski about an autumn night at Wembley in 1973.
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'With style and erudition, [Wilson] proves that football is a metaphor, an allegory, and much more than just a game' THE TIMES 'Enlightening' THE SCOTSMAN
About the Author
Jonathan Wilson is the soccer correspondent for the Financial Times.
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Jonathan Wilson is the Football Correspondent of the Financial Times and author of the critically acclaimed 'Behind the Curtain: Football in Eastern Europe' and 'Inverting the Pyramid'. Coming in time for the 2010 World Cup is 'The Anatomy of England', an in-depth look at ten crucial games that shaped England.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
lifts the curtain,
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This review is from: Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football (Paperback)
Simply a superb soccer book. It's not just the "big" nations that the author looks at nor are they the most interesting. By delving into such places as Bosnia-Hercegovina, Armenia, Azerbaijin as well as the big boys of Russia, Croatia and Romania we get a truly complete picture on the state of the game both from a historical perspective but with a firm eye on the present and future.
It's so enjoyable to learn a nugget like the "Russian" linesman Tofik Bakhramov who confirmed that England's third goal in the 1966 World Cup Final did cross the line has the national stadium named after him in his native Azerbaijan. The book is filled with these and they are not just thrown in as trivia asides but are investigated and explained in entertaining details. Here's hoping author Jonathan Wilson is working on a followup as this subject has so many more stories I'm sure to tell even as thorough a job as he did on this one.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jonathan Wilson - Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football,
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This review is from: Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football (Paperback)
Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football
For those who want to know the history behind Balkan & Russian football this is a must read. Every region in Europe needs a book of this nature, though with the rich history of the likes of Hungary & Ukraine this is a read of another level.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book...for Soccer fan and those yet to be converted,
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This review is from: Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football (Paperback)
Extremely well-researched and educational, yet fun at the same time. Less about formations & tactics than I originally antiicipated, but still an absolute page turner with the stories and gems you will find nowhere else. The fact that this book deals with Eastern Europe, even more credit to Mr. Wilson. (Much more information avaiable on Western European football History). I had to re-read a few pages early on due to relative unfamiliarity of the subjects and names mentioned, but that is to no discredit of this excellent author.You want boxscores and game recaps? Look elsewhere. You want to know how Football REALLY evolved in this part of the world? Buy this book.
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