Taking the 2014 Football World Cup Qualifying programme as a starting point, Montague investigates the remarkable political and social history of some of the world's most isolated and war-torn regions. This is not really a book about football, although football and the near impossible quest that these countries embark on to attempt to qualify for the World Cup link the stories that Montague tells. He attempts to answer the question as to why they bother, when in some cases, the players are risking their lives to represent their repressive regimes, or in other cases, have no chance of achieving anything other than humiliation game after game, He travels widely to watch games, meet players, interrogate coaches and observe riots and military crackdowns. Palestine vs Afghanistan, Haiti vs US Virgin Islands, Rwanda vs Eritrea, American Samoa vs Cook Islands..he's a terrific writer, both on football, and on politics, and this is a terrific book. It reminds us that football is a hugely significant political force in much of the world - Gibraltar has just been admitted to UEFA, and will enter the next World Cup, despite opposition from Spain, but at the time of writing Kosovo is just too controversial.