“The work is inspired by Delacroix’s masterpiece Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (1855–1861).
This image by Delacroix is known for being loaded with ambiguous meanings. The physical posture of the wrestlers can be seen as a dance step — even a tango step — between a man, Jacob, and a woman, the Angel. In 1997, filmmaker Sally Potter made a beautiful film about tango dancers, The Tango Lesson. In her film, she refers to Delacroix’s painting as a possible expression of a tango.

While looking for an image depicting football players, I noticed that most photographic records showing footballers in action lack that theatrical sense of a heroic gesture.

When Zidane — an African — head-butted Marco Materazzi — a European — during the World Cup final between France and Italy in 2006, it was one of the rare moments where physical contact between footballers took on the form of a tragic act. The colonized striking back at the colonizers! It was as heroic as Saint George slaying the dragon!

Yet the photographs of this event are disappointing. The face-to-face situation naturally leads back to the image of Jacob wrestling with the Angel. Zidane is no saint — he’s a professional footballer, he’s in business, just like Jacob (nobody’s perfect!).

If Clausewitz considered war as a continuation of politics, then Africans would give anything for football to become a continuation of politics — through play.”

— Hassan Musa's commentary of his work THE GOOD GAME, May 2009

The Good Game I, 2008, 212 x 142 cm, Assembled textiles - (Private Collector)