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Stories
by Stephen Constantine
De Coubertin, £12.99
Reviewed by Neil Andrews
From WSC 368, October 2017
Buy the book
President Ali Bongo is under pressure after AFCON 2017 was controversially awarded to Gabon, but the football itself is an enticing prospect
Paul Giess looks at the legacy of the summer's World Cup for the hosts and the future prospects for the national league
The surge of optimism experienced across South Africa during the 2010 World Cup having died down, daily life has returned its normal mix of strikes, unpopular government legislation and continued difficult economic conditions. At the start of the new football season there are still a handful of well-worn flags flying from cars and houses as residents cling on to memories of the few weeks when their divided nation came together as one. It remains to be seen if this will spill over into any renewed support for the 16 teams that will battle out the 2010-11 Premier Soccer League (PSL).
An anti-climatic exit, injured star player and end of an era – the next World Cup hosts need to improve. Robert Shaw explains
Brazilians don’t anticipate winning every World Cup. But they do at least expect to bask in their technical superiority until a defensive howler denies the assumed divine right to be world champions. Frustration at losing to Holland – opponents overcome in 1994 and 1998 – was compounded by the sense that the Dutch posed the biggest hurdle to Brazil’s fourth final appearance in five World Cups.