Ink And Insight

The Heartbreaks Most fans talk about football in terms of goals, winners, and trophies. And rightly so. These are the moments that define the game. But football also comes with heartbreaks. And heartbreaks are rarely discussed. When they are, they are spoken about quietly, almost privately. Yet the pain of a footballing heartbreak can be just as intense as the joy of a triumph. For some fans, it cuts so deep that it makes them question why they follow the game at all. I have had three such moments. The Netherlands, 1974 The first was the 1974 World Cup Final. The Netherlands were the most beautiful team in the tournament. Fluid, inventive, almost impossible to watch without admiring. Yet they lost. I was nine years old. I could not accept it. I did not understand how a team could be the best and still not win. It was my first lesson in football's cruel ironies. Brazil, 1982 The second was the most painful of the three. Brazil's defeat to Italy in the 1982 World Cu...

                                                                                                                       Why did the ball become the narrator of the Whispering World Cup Ball? Several readers have asked me this question. I thought I should share the interesting story,  a story that is as interesting as the book itself. After a conversation with my cousin, I decided to write the story of the World Cup. I did not want the book to be another historical narrative of the World Cup, the kind that lists results, recaps matches, and moves dutifully from one tournament to the next. There are shelves full of those. What I wante...