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Football’s Flamboyant Maestro
by Jethro Soutar
Robson, £9.99
Reviewed by Barney Ronay
From WSC 242 April 2007 

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“The importance of Ronaldinho’s aura, his grace and charisma, cannot be overstated,” writes Jethro Soutar halfway through this meticulous 90,000-word exercise in doing just that. Immaculately put together and perkily written, the only thing the book lacks is any kind of analysis of its subject to go alongside all the facts. Surprisingly, given its unofficial nature, there’s no room here for Ronaldinho as anything but permanently smiling super athlete, a sporting brand defined by his umbilical, and highly marketable, link to the common myth-kitty of Brazilian football greatness. This is a shame because, as far as it goes, this is an energetic and comprehensive biography.

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Argentine giants Boca Juniors have won yet another Copa Libertadores – with a little help from a Mr Riquelme of Villarreal, who was just passing through Buenos Aires. Robert Shaw reports

The Copa Libertadores final between Boca Juniors and Gremio failed to live up to expectations, with the Argentines winning 5‑0 on aggregate. Both legs were dominated by on-loan Juan Román Riquelme, whose two goals in the second leg overshadowed the more modest efforts of Liverpool-bound Lucas. As holidays go it was a pretty successful one for Riquelme, propelling the player back into the national squad after his post-World Cup retirement and helping his club to their sixth title. By the time Boca fanatic Diego Maradona stops bouncing up and down to celebrate this victory, Riquelme will be back at Villarreal via the Copa America after a successful $2.5 million loan.

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Friday 1 Leeds’ administrators are to recount the votes taken at a creditors’ meeting, which appeared to narrowly favour Ken Bates’s proposed takeover. Nigel Worthington is to manage Northern Ireland until the end of their Euro 2008 qualifiers in November. England concede a last-minute equaliser in a 1‑1 draw with Brazil, John Terry having put them ahead in their return to Wembley. “The key thing was the amount of passion that the players showed,” says Steve McClaren, as desperate as ever.

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Agents or club chairmen – who are most disliked? Polling even worse are the growing subset who step from one job to the other. As one agent who helped bankrupt a club faces jail in Switzerland, Dan Brennan looks at the puzzling trend

Letting a football agent take control of your club might sound a bit like handing a burglar a spare set of keys to your house and telling him where the family silver is kept. That is certainly how it must now feel to supporters of Servette, the venerable Swiss club that went bankrupt two years ago and were forced to begin life again in the third division.

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Robert Shaw finds Corinthians reeling after the loss of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano

Crisis at Corinthians is a relative term, but the upheaval at the São Paulo club this season has been staggering even by their standards. The MSI-driven transfer of Carlos Tévez and Javier Mascherano to West Ham triggered renewed difficulties and the hangover from a title win in 2005 has lasted all year. From being carefree, high-scoring table-toppers, the club are now scrambling to avoid relegation. In 2005 they scored 87 goals in 42 games; after 31 outings in this year’s national championship, they had netted only 28 times.

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