Babelia
's teammates
asked me for two sets of soccer books, one about novelties and the other about classics of soccer literature.
What I didn't know was that my Babelia teammates were
such
soccer fans that they did the same as all good fans in World Cup times: mistrust the coach.
They were not worth my training - level II title of soccer coach, obtained after passing subjects such as Technique, Tactics or English and French adapted to soccer - nor the experience accumulated every weekend in the Sports section, where I review the Monday a book on the subject.
Nor did my Asturian origin, which is the same as that of Luis Enrique, serve as a mitigating factor.
With all these arguments, my fellow
Babelia
They decided to ask our readers what books were missing from my lists.
And the readers, who in addition to a selector also have a literary critic inside, responded.
I have to say that many of his proposals —Galeano, Fontanarrosa or Valdano— were in the initial lineup.
But his suggestions —arrivals through social networks and email— have served to remember some forgotten titles and to discover others that he was unaware of.
In the comments on the news, for example, Fernando Valiño pointed to
Los once y uno
, by Gonzalo Suárez.
A book that "can only be found in old bookstores."
And that reminded me how wonderful
La suela de mis zapatos
(Seix Barral) is, which is included in the chronicles that Suárez signed as Martín Girard and in which he narrates, among many other things, stories about Helenio Herrera —married to Suárez's mother — for the one who even scouted Inter's rivals.
On Instagram, @afrihug remembered
Knowing how to lose
(Anagram), by David Trueba.
It is a (great) football novel that is not about football, it is about life.
In other words, it is about soccer because, as Osvaldo Soriano said, soccer is a metaphor for life.
In Trueba's book, several stories intertwine and, among them, is that of Ariel Burano, a young Argentine player who comes to Spain to succeed.
Do you remember the title?
Well that.
The fact of living with two cats and not having children may have influenced my forgetting about Roberto Santiago, surely the author who has sold the most books on soccer.
His
Futbolísimos
De él (SM) are a saga of illustrated books in which a gang of kids solve mysteries, always with the ball as the protagonist.
Rubén Rodríguez Díaz wrote an email from Uruguay.
His text, at first, did not make me very funny.
He introduced himself as " amateur
soccer manager
, retired as a semi-professional player."
And, also, “Industrial engineer”.
When it comes to football, we were more or less tied.
But industrial engineer clearly beats philologist, which made me fear for my position.
Rubén proposed for the
Papifútbol list, “a novel that has an
amateur
soccer championship as its common thread
, which shows in a fun and exciting way how important it is for older people to have that group of friends and the impact it has on their lives.”
The proposal sounds interesting.
The author is Rubén Gastelumendi Puig and the book has its own website.
Rubén, if you read this text, do you want to be my second coach?
Had he had a good second coach, he might have gotten to
A Popular Soccer Story
(Tin Foil) sooner, which La.Firefly proposed on Instagram.
The book is the work of Mickaël Correia and it looks great.
And to close this atonement for forgetfulness and decisions, I can say with honor that, like almost every good coach, I have felt the weight of pressure from a popular player who was not called up.
Several readers proposed
My own offside
(La Calle), by Cristina Brull.
It is the book that most times came as a proposal through Instagram.
There are two explanations: 1) It is a great book that I was unaware of.
2) Cristina has very good friends who believe in her work and recommend it passionately.
Both explanations seem equally valid to me (and the endearing nature of the matter is added to the second) and it is likely that, in this case, they occur at the same time.
So I quickly look for her book —focused on women's soccer and whose synopsis makes it very appetizing— and I hope to soon correct my oversights as a coach.
For the next World Cup, I promise different mistakes.
Thanks for participating!
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