Without a doubt, the book that Simon Kuper (British author and Financial Times sportswriter) is most famous for is Soccernomics. Soccernomics takes a look at the analytical side of the sport; the statistics, the psychology, and the economics behind why certain trends and results in soccer are the way they are.

There was something oddly consuming about the dullness of today's France-Romania European Qualifying match. It was played in Bucharest, in front of a packed and energized crowd of Romanian fans, who understood that this was probably the pivotal moment in the country's attempt to get to the European Cup next year.