If Only: An Alternative History of the Beautiful Game

It is often tempting to believe in the grand sweep of history; to conclude that the triumphs of great teams were simply inevitable. The truth, however, is that history can turn on what appear, at frst glance, to be infnitesimally small events. Behind all those triumphs lie the countless disappointments of teams that were denied glory by a cruel bounce, the width of a crossbar or a dubious refereeing decision. Challenging the perception that the outcome of great clashes couldn't have been any dfferent, If Only reflects on what soccer history could have been, what it might have been and, in some cases, what it probably should have been. It imagines a world in which Scotland win the frst-ever World Cup, Derby County are champions of Europe and 1966 isn’t the only year that England win anything.