Thirty-One Nil

Regular price €19.99
2014 World Cup
A01=James Montague
Afghanistan
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_James Montague
automatic-update
Brazil
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=SCB
Category=SFBC
Category=WSB
Category=WSJA
collection biography
COP=United Kingdom
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_non-fiction
eq_sports-fitness
Eritrea
famous defeat
famous player
final
Haiti
history
inspiration
interview
Language_English
Lebanon
Next goal wins
PA=Available
Palestine
political
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
qualifier
San Marino
soccer
social turmoil
softlaunch
sport competition
struggle
Taika Waititi
Tajikistan
team
true story
victory

Product details

  • ISBN 9781408851630
  • Weight: 278g
  • Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
  • Publication Date: 21 May 2015
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
  • Language: English
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days

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WINNER OF THE FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS

The story of the immense struggle to qualify for the World Cup, Thirty-One Nil roams from American Samoa to Zambia in a remarkable and insightful journey that gets under the skin of world football.

In a tiny, decaying aluminium smelting town in southern Tajikistan, a short drive from a raging war zone, Afghanistan take on Palestine in the first Asian qualifier for the World Cup. Every player on both teams is risking something by playing: their careers, their families, even their lives. Yet, along with thousands of other footballers backed by millions of supporters, they all dream of snatching one of the precious 32 places at the finals; and so begins a three-year epic struggle – long before the usual suspects start their higher-profile qualifying campaigns under the spotlight.

Named after the greatest victory (and defeat) that the World Cup qualifiers have ever seen (Australia’s 31-0 victory over American Samoa), Thirty-One Nil is the story of how footballers from all corners of the globe begin their journey chasing a place at the 2014 World Cup Finals. It celebrates the part-time priests, princes and hopeless chancers who dream of making it to Brazil, in defiance of the staggering odds stacked against them. It tells the story of teams who have struggled for their very existence through political and social turmoil, from which they will very occasionally emerge into international stardom.

From the endlessly humiliated San Marino to lowly Haiti; from war-torn Lebanon to the oppressed and fleet-footed players of Eritrea, in Thirty-One Nil James Montague gets intimately and often dangerously close to some of the world’s most extraordinary teams, and tells their exceptional stories.

James Montague is an award-winning author and journalist who writes for The Athletic and Tifo and who reports about football, politics and society for The New York Times, CNN and BBC World Service. He is the author of four books and is a two-time winner of the Football Book of the Year at the British Sports Book of the Year Awards for Thirty-One Nil and The Billionaires Club.