Böcker av Rob Smyth

The Denmark side of the 1980s was one of the last truly iconic international football teams. Although they did not win a trophy, they claimed something much more important and enduring: glory, and in industrial quantities. They were a bewitching fusion of futuristic attacking football, effortless Scandinavian cool and laid-back living. They played like angels and lived like you and I, and they were everyone''s second team in the mid-1980s. The story of Danish Dynamite, as the team became known, is the story of a team of rock stars in a polyester Hummel kit. Heralding from a country with no real football history to speak of and a population of five million, this humble and likeable team was unique. Everymen off the field and superheroes on it, they were totally of their time, and their approach to the game was in complete contrast to the gaudy excess and charmless arrogance of today''s football stars. That they ultimately imploded in spectacular style, with a shocking 5-1 defeat to Spain in the 1986 World Cup in a game that almost everyone expected them to win, only adds to their legend. For the first time in English, Danish Dynamite tells the story of perhaps the coolest team in football history, a team that had it all and blew it in spectacular style after a live-fast-die-young World Cup campaign. Featuring interviews with the players themselves, including Michael Laudrup, Preben Elkjær and Jesper Olsen, as well as with those who played or managed against them, this is a joyous celebration of one of the most life-affirming teams the world has ever seen.

Classic World Cup clashes brought to life and re-evaluated by two of the writers of the popular Guardian minute-by-minute football blog. Watching each match in real time and reacting to the twists and turns of the action, Murray and Smyth bring you the real stories of the matches as they happened, not the highlights package or rose-tinted version. From the crowd swarming over the pitch moments before the Brazil-Uruguay classic of 1950 kicked off, to the dubious refereeing decisions that decided England's single triumph at Wembley, this is the history of the World Cup as you've never seen it before. As well as 30 classic moments from other matches, the games given a full report include:1950Uruguay v Brazil1962Chile v Italy1966England v ArgentinaEngland v West Germany1970England v West GermanyItaly v West GermanyBrazil v Italy1974West Germany v Holland1978Scotland v Holland1982Brazil v ItalyWest Germany v France1986England v Argentina France v Brazil1990England vs CameroonEngland v West Germany1994Romania v Argentina1998Argentina v England2006Italy v Germany2010Spain v Holland

The story of cricket's greatest rivalry, told through the tales behind 100 eclectic and entertaining quotations - from the birth of the Ashes in 1882 to the dramatic 2013-14 series.