Uli Hesse

Probably the least successful issue of The Blizzard so far, which still leaves it a cut above the majority of other football writing.

The strength and weakness of the issue lies in its theme. As usual the strongest articles are ones that fill in background details you wouldn’t see covered elsewhere, straying into social comment about Brazil and FIFA’s many idiocies. Where it falls down slightly is in the inclusion of a couple of filler articles, such as the analysis of which clubs have provided World Cup winning players and the ‘Greatest Games’ on Italy-Brazil from 1982. The former needed to play up how the teams show the face of changing football history more and the latter seems more a plug for a novelty book pointlessly applying the modern phenomenon of live match reports to old games. It lacks insight or entertainment value. That said, it’s clearly still worth buying for the general high standard of the remaining articles and interviews. Uli Hesse’s article on the 1974 game between East and West Germany captures the absurdities of sport as a Cold War battlefield beautifully, Greg Johnson sums up a growing school of thought as to why Spain’s recent vintage, possibly the finest international team seen, aren’t as loved as they perhaps should be. Michael ‘Zonal Marking’ Cox is insightful on Lippi’s 2006 coaching success and the section on Brazil itself proves a fine snapshot of what was an ultimately traumatic tournament for the hosts. And that’s before the interview with Algerian coach Vahid Halihodzic or the chaos that surrounds tournament ‘minnows’.

As usual, more than enough fine writing to overcome any minor flaws, even more superior to its field than Germany were in the World Cup itself.… (mer)