The very good, the bad and the nearly beautiful - Chris Rattue looks at three vastly different contributions to consider for your World Cup build-up
Inverting the Pyramid, The History of Football Tactics. By Jonathan Wilson
On the surface, a book for anorak wearing trainspotters, but actually more than that. Much more.
First things first. The cover takes dull to new levels, saved only by an award tagline. It could have been worse - but only if they had titled this book 'How to bore yourself to death on a Saturday afternoon' and put a picture of a brick on the cover.
There's no brick, but there is a graphic that might be of a table soccer game designed by an East Berlin architect during the Cold War.
Battle past that, dear reader, because this will prove to be a gem for many soccer devotees - although not all.
There's no sex or scandal, just pure football, with tactics, events and personalities woven together. Lovely.
Inverting the Pyramid is a sanctuary from the madness of sound-bites and raging headlines. Never has "to curl up with a good book" been so apt.
Having found this oasis, the bland, green cover begins to make sense, because it deliberately avoids the trappings of modern life, daring to undersell Wilson's achievements in an age where everything is exaggerated.
How he managed to put this together, I do not know. Genius. He probably didn't get many lawns mowed.
For a random excerpt, try this from a famed Russian coach Vikto Maslov who, Wilson says, may have invented modern football through his teams putting pressure on opponents in possession.
"Football is like an aeroplane. As velocities increase, so does air resistance, and so you have to make the head more streamlined," Maslov reckoned.
Had the late Russian been around for this World Cup, he may have wondered about the All Whites, who are aerial alright but not very streamlined up front. However, an old Russian would understand the sacrifices needed to make do on limited resources.
This is a book which, on approaching it, makes you wonder if the world within is too intense. Once inside, though, you don't want to leave.
The epilogue contains a key observation that links strongly with the film I've included below. Roberto Mancini, the Manchester City coach, believes tactically the game has nowhere new to go. Soccer will only be significantly reshaped by physical advances.
THE BAD
The Game of Their Lives
Great game, shame about the movie.
The United States' shock victory over an England team that included legendary players - Matthews, Finney & Co - at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil is among the most famous in the tournament's history.
Cocky over-rated Poms get beaten by lovable troupe of thrown-together representatives of the American dream, according to the film, which was in the hands of a fairly well respected director in David Anspaugh. One of the worst voice-overs in movie history to complete the deal.
I've included this as a warning: don't tamper with your World Cup excitement by even thinking of lifting this from the video store shelves.
The match action scenes are even worse than in Invictus.
Even a bad movie has its uses though, in this case encouraging one to hit the internet to discover more.
The scorer of America's goal was Joe Gaetjens, from Haiti, among a handful of players whose eligibility to play for the US was questioned.
Gaetjens was murdered by a death squad in his native land in the mid-1960s. The real stories around some of the players are worlds away from this half-hearted film. Another World Cup and all its stories await ...
THE BEAUTIFUL
Ginga - The Soul of Brasilian Football
A film by the sportswear giants Nike - best to get that information in early.
There is awkward irony about Nike rejoicing in football's meanest streets, celebrating the last place where soccer's soul survives (as the DVD's jacket puts it) in a world dominated by fear of defeat.
Hard to forget though that sportswear giants such as Nike have played no small part in creating the soul-less sports world - and they aren't exactly munificent in their Third World employment dealings, either.
There is also a sense the film doesn't care about the poverty it is swimming through, and yet to do so would have been patronising.
Still, some might see this film as shameless exploitation.
Fascinating viewing, though, from the soccer tricks to watching the affection and respect the Brazilian player Robinho shows when he visits the home of his old coach.
This film has limitations and is no work of art, yet shines through a lack of intrusion by the film-makers who act as a fly on dilapidated walls.
Basketball's Hoop Dreams set the standard in following the lives of professional sporting prospects.
Ginga isn't in the same league, although just as revealing in many, sometimes unintentional, ways.
Young soccer hopefuls should adore this DVD, and might watch it over and over.
They would be enchanted by the skills, possibly inspired by a new level of tricks to aim for, and blinded by what the world's best futsal (indoor) player can do.
There is one staggering segment featuring a one legged player, who can still plays a mean game on crutches.
A junior coach, who obviously wasn't a consultant on the jacket notes, explains that soccer is now 70 per cent physical, 30 per cent skill.
Soccer skills are everywhere in Brazil so finding that part of the equation is no problem. The coach knows the soccer market wants power, so that is what he must provide.
Small and slight players, while not excluded entirely, will find it increasingly hard to make it at the top levels. This is a trend noted in the epilogue of Wilson's book Inverting the Pyramid, The History of Football Tactics.
A case in point in New Zealand is Costa Barbarouses, the most skilled of the new breed, yet he is small and perhaps too easily knocked off the ball.
There is also a touching moment when the coach addresses the large group of hopefuls and talks with genuine concern about whether they should continue their professional soccer pursuit or return to playing the game for fun.
This film is about the joy of football, yet the distressing poverty of Brazil is just as dominant. You don't need the depth of a Hoop Dreams to see where broken soccer dreams can end in Brazil.
