For day 12 of the WSC advent calendar we’re looking at on of the gifts given to baby Jesus; gold. In April 2002, issue 182, Bobby McMahon attempted to explain why South Korea took part in that year’s Concacaf Gold Cup and suggested a way to put the tournament out of its misery

On the world football scale, winning the Gold Cup is tantamount to winning the world’s tallest midget competition. Not only is it contested by teams from one of the weakest regions, Concacaf, it receives min­imal fan support and attracts almost no media interest. Ostensibly created in 1991 to help promote the 1994 World Cup in the US as well as to help the home country’s preparations, the competition replaced the Concacaf Championship which had been contested under various formats and with a vary­ing number of participants since 1941. Costa Rica dom­inated until 1989 with ten wins, while the Mex­icans, who you would have perhaps expected to lead, won only three.

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There was a severe shortage of goals, but no lack of controversy or politicking as Cameroon retained the African Cup of Nations. Alan Duncan reports

Their Malian hosts were convinced they use magical powers to win matches. They walked out, muscles flexed in sleeveless vests, having not conceded a single goal in the whole contest. And the president of the Confederation of African Football, Issa Hayatou, just happens to be one of their most famous sons. On Feb­ruary 10, the enduring legend which is Cameroonian football once again took hold when the Indomit­able Lions became the first side since Ghana in 1965 to retain the African Cup of Nations.

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Ken Gall tries to unravel the preposterous chain of events that has turned the affairs of Dundee FC into something akin to the plot of a TV gangland fantasy

Of all the weird and wonderful tales associated with British football, can any boast a cast as varied and a storyline as fantastic as that of Dundee FC?

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Stephen Wagg reflects on the achievements of the first man to manage England in a World Cup finals and how he cultured a generation of managers

Walter Winterbottom lived until he was nearly 90, so a lot of English football lovers below a certain age have probably never heard of him. Still fewer among the club’s global “fan base” will have known, until this month’s obituaries, that he played for a season in Manchester United’s first team. He coached England when the team was no more than a series of grainy and occasional black and white images on the nation’s TV screens and he was gone before the medium got seriously involved with Eng­lish football.

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Former professional footballer Dai Thomas is given a custodial sentence in Cardiff v Leeds FA Cup fall-out, reports Paul Ashley-Jones

The aftermath of the Cardiff v Leeds FA Cup tie has seen the conviction of a number of Cardiff fans including one hooligan, David (Dai) Thomas, who received a custodial sen­tence for his part, which included throwing an advertising hoarding at Leeds supporters. What has made Dai Thomas the subject of media attention is that he was a former professional footballer with Cardiff City. It was also not his first offence.

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