Book Review: This Love is Not for Cowards: Salvation and Soccer in Ciudad Juarez, by Robert Andrew Powell
du Nord, April 30, 2012
A book review by contributor Paul Demko As a book about professional sports, This Love is Not for Cowards: Salvation and Soccer in Ciudad Juarez is pretty much a dud. Veteran U.S. journalist Robert Andrew Powell shows up in the beleaguered border town midway through the 2009-10 season. The Primera club that Powell begins following, Los Indios de Juarez, has muddled through the first half of the campaign without a single victory. It's not surprising that Los Indios are struggling to remain in the Mexican top division. Recruiting talent is undoubtedly difficult when your players are routinely threatened with kidnapping and the daily body count in the city regularly hits double digits. Powell attempts to pump some drama into the squad's relegation battle. But as Los Indios proceed to set a Primera Division record for consecutive matches without a victory, it's pretty darn clear that their days in the top flight are numbered. Powell does gets some yuks from coming up with different creative ways to describe the