Set among the gum trees and dust, this is the story of a weedy Pommy kid falling in love with the world game and his epic battle to convert the pagans of the outback to the cause. From the moment he could kick a ball, Patrick Mangan was fanatical about soccer. And what he lacked in skill, he made up for in a devotion not shared, sadly, by the residents of the Wimmera. This memoir is about how sports and nationality shape identity, and how a boy came to love the occasionally heroic, sometimes tragic, World Cup#150;bound Socceroos.