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The Greatest Show on Earth: The Inside Story of the Legendary 1970 World Cup - Hardcover | Diverse Reads

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Inside Story of the Legendary 1970 World Cup

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Shortlisted for Football Book of the Year in the Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year Award

Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Football Book of the Year 2022

One of the Financial Times Top 5 Best Sports Books of the Year

The 1970 World Cup is widely regarded as the greatest ever staged, with more goals per game than any World Cup since. But more than just the proliferation of goals was the quality of the overall football, as some of the finest teams ever to represent the likes of West Germany, Peru, Italy and England came together for a tilt at the world title. But at the heart of the tournament were Brazil; captained by Carlos Alberto and featuring legends like Pelé, Gérson, Jairzinho, Rivellino and Tostão, the 1970 Seleção are often cited as the greatest-ever World Cup team.

Using brand new interviews alongside painstaking archival research, Andrew Downie charts each stage of the tournament, from the preparations to the final, telling a host of remarkable stories in the players’ own words. The result is an immediate, insightful and compelling narrative that paints a unique portrait of an extraordinary few weeks when football hit peaks it has seldom reached since. This is Mexico 1970. Welcome to the Greatest Show on Earth.

ISBN-13: 9781909715967

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Birlinn - Limited

Publication Date: 11-02-2021

Pages: 320

Product Dimensions: 6.15(w) x 9.20(h) x (d)

Andrew Downie is the Brazilian football correspondent for Reuters, and has lived in the country for almost 20 years. He has written on football for GQ, the Economist, the New York Times and the Guardian among others. He translated Garrincha: The Triumph and Tragedy of Brazil's Forgotten Footballing Hero, and is the best-selling author of the critically-acclaimed Doctor Socrates: Footballer, Philosopher and Legend. Now based in London, he still spends much of the year in Brazil.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Foreword Roberto Rivellino xi

Prologue xiii

1 Pre-Tournament Preparations 1

2 The Group Stages: Group 1 47

3 The Group Stages: Group 2 65

4 The Group Stages: Group 3 81

5 The Group Stages: Group 4 125

6 Quarter-Finals: Ussr V Uruguay 147

7 Quarter-Finals: Italy V Mexico 153

8 Quarter-Finals: Brazil V Peru 162

9 Quarter-Finals: West Germany V England 173

10 Semi-Finals: Italy V West Germany 207

11 Semi-Finals: Brazil V Uruguay 225

12 The Final: Brazil V Italy 251

13 The Legacy of Brazil 1970 283

Bibliography 298