"Kafka on the Wing": 11 Writers on the World Cup's Star Players

Football fans couldn't have asked for a more exciting start to this year's iteration of the sport's most beloved tournament. From witchdoctors to goal-line technology controversies, the 2014 World Cup looks to be one for the books...quite literally. It surely is for the authors and intellectuals whom New Republic asked to write about their favourite footballers. That the jogo bonito inspires literary fervour is no new concept (see Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, which, in an interesting turn of influences, was the basis of TWO films). But the passion behind these portraits of some of football's most intriguing and controversial figures is something to be celebrated.
One particularly stirring piece is by American author Jess Walter, who writes of Portuguese/Brazilian defender Pepe (born Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira):
My hero, Kurt Vonnegut, used to encourage writers to "put a villain in it," by which I think he meant someone like the Portuguese center back Pepe. Pepe will step on your heel. He will sweep your feet. If you rise for a header, he will concuss you with his shaved bullet head. For 90 minutes, Pepe will run at you, into you, and through you, and every once in a while, as he did to Spanish midfielder Javier Casquero in 2009, Pepe will literally kick your ass while you writhe on the ground. Twice.
Beautiful, even at its most brutal. Read all 11 pieces here. Image source