In my search for a source of interest towards the Football World Cup, after a first unsuccessful attempt with a book about applied statistics, I found an alternative that might do the trick.

Driven by my interest in statistics and games, I am considering creating a league on the Guardian Fantasy Football site, with a set of objectives that might sound a little unusual:

– challenge my assumption that soccer is not a game to be analysed with statistics (and the best way to do this without any prejudice is to give it a try by playing some game…);

– understand if my ancient work on basketball statistics can be applied to soccer;

– get to know something about what will be happening in South Africa during the next few weeks, with a minimal degree of hope of remembering it well enough to sustain an average conversation at the water cooler…

Anybody willing to participate in a virtual league for non-conoisseurs? Drop a line in the comments, I will send you an invitation…