Step in to the future and re-live the 2026 world cup, then take back the winning teams’ details to the nearest bookie to place a bet. Immerse yourself in the hectic genius that is Captain Rico and the team; training, playing, and jostling for team selection. This isn’t just an intimate retrospective celebration of the fly-on-the-wall documentary that captured the nation’s imagination, as intended. It is also a lesson in compassion, inclusion, challenging stereotypes, redressing misconceptions, breaking conventional boundaries on race, sexual-identity and the mental illness that plagues the best of us.

Re-live the drama of conflicts, rivalries, and most memorable moment in the house 26 players called home for 6 weeks. Recall the exploration of team-dynamics, the struggle for diversity of cultures against the back drop of toxic masculinity, and the struggling egos combining to traverse the intensity of expectations.

This is a day-by-day account of Captain Rico, his right-hand man, Macarthy, and the players who were chosen to work together or fail together under the glare of the world.

“It will be an absolute disaster!” the first of many reacted to the news USA men’s football team would be filmed 24 hours a day for the integrity of the world cup, but it wasn’t.

Players have to walk the tightrope of success under the glare of subscribers, scrutinising and their every action, argument, and the psychological pressure that forces the true nature of the inhabitants to be laid bare.

Diversity of racial background, sexual identities, hard-felt political opinions and beliefs, and dogmatic biases and many more differences, are forced to work together to create something new, strong, and capable of great results. The further they wish to go, the more they have to truly accept the outsiders of the group as a part of themselves.  

Most of all, this book is an imaginative journey in to mental health, coping with self-loathing, self-sabotage, procrastination, and accepting who we are before we can truly develop in to our best version.

The final chapter is the place we can all come together and the great reveal is worth the read. Indeed, it’s a must read for anyone who wants to understand the struggle between who we are and who we could be.