Foreign News: The Disappearing Act

Under a rainy Riviera sky, the Angers soccer team beat the crack Monaco eleven, 2-0, in a crucial game, but immediately afterwards, Angers' star forward disappeared. Then five of the best Monaco players vanished. All last week reports of missing footballeurs poured in: Lyon lost one player; so did Reims, Saint-Etienne and Nimes; Toulouse lost two.

The vanished players had one thing in common: they were all Algerians. It was as if, overnight, the best Latin American baseball players in the major leagues—men like Chico Carrasquel, Bobby Avila, Minnie Minoso, Ruben Gomez—had fled the U.S. and challenged the Yankees and Braves for...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!