THE STORY OF THE WORLD CUP – BRIAN GLANVILLE

No one knows their World Cup onions like Brian Glanville (not even me, heh heh joke) and it shows in this book.

Apparently syringes were found in the German dressing room by an attendant after the 1954 final and Swiss captain Robert Bocquet played matches despite having a tumour.

The magic of Puskas, ‘Reserve' Fontaine's 13 goals, the explosion of Pele, England's win in '66 - and throwaway in '70, Cruyff and Haan.

The controversy – Schumacher's foul, Maradona's handball, the ‘non aggression pact of Gijon' and the characters: Cameroon forward Roger Milla, ‘El Loco' the Peru goalkeeper and Ally MacLeod's ‘tartan army.'

I can't actually believe Scotland's fans travelled to the 1978 World Cup in Argentina with big ‘easy, easy' banners. And won the game they were expected to lose, drawn the game they should have won and lost the game they should have drawn.

At over 400 pages long, this is a definitive, brilliantly written history.

World Cup Banter

Former German midfield maestro Bernd Schuster wasn't the luckiest with World Cup selections. After a blinding Euro 1980 tournament, Schuster missed the 1982 World Cup due to a knee injury. Overlooked for the 1986 and 1990 tournaments, Schuster was strongly considered for a 1994 recall…..but then overlooked again.

Finally from this year. Remember Nigeria defender Shittu? Aptly named.

Steve Billingham