Mundial 78

A novel... In 1978, to the astonishment of Amnesty International and other Human Rights organizations, the eleventh World Cup was staged in Argentina. A ruthless military dictatorship led by President Jorge Vilela brutalised, tortured and murdered thousands of their own people to stay in power. Under the guise of the Beautiful Game, this cesspit of Generals would attempt to achieve respectability in the World's eye. But for this to succeed victory had to be achieved at any price. So, just to be sure they decided to fix it. MUNDIAL 78 tells the story of a young Scottish journalist Paul Mackenzie, who travels to Argentina, utterly oblivious to what is really going on behind the blinding confetti splashed stadiums. He's interested only in the football, the beer and the women. But it's a meeting with an Argentine journalist Sebastian Gomez and his sister Maria, who Mackenzie falls in love with, that opens his eyes to the true, vicious reality of the Mundial. In time, Mackenzie, along with Sebastian Gomez and a wizened, old Scottish hack Hugh Morley, find themselves involved in the biggest sporting fix in history. The Argentina versus Peru showdown, when the host nation needed four goals to ensure qualification for the World Cup final at Brazil's expense. This is a story involving a frightening host of characters. Many famous such as Henry Kissinger, others simply infamous as the CIA and the Argentine and Peruvian governments, and a Colombian drug cartel, all conspiring together for their own means. Anyone deemed a danger to their plans risked paying the ultimate price, and it's the journalists who are caught in the storm's eye, with ultimately, bitter and tragic consequences. The French Poet Charles Baudelaire once claimed, ''The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.'' Well, for a period during the Seventies he did exist and had pitched his tent in Argentina.