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How to Watch Soccer
by Ruud GullitAn opinionated masterclass in the art and science of “reading” a match from one of professional soccer’s most respected and beloved international figures
Ruud Gullit knows better than anyone else that to understand soccer you have to understand strategy. When he started playing soccer, his only “strategy” was to get the ball, outrun everyone else to the other end of the field, and score. At first it served him well, but as he advanced through the sport, he learned that it takes much more than speed to make a winning team. He worked his way from the Dutch junior leagues all the way to the legendary AC Milan, eventually retiring from the field to be a trainer, then a manager, and finally a commentator.
Each step came with its own lessons, and its own unique perspective on the game. Having looked at soccer through just about every lens possible, Gullit is now sharing his own perspective. Most spectators simply watch the ball, but in How to Watch Soccer, Gullit explains how to watch the whole game. He shows how every part of a match, from formations to corner kicks, all the way down to what the players do to influence the referees, is important. And he uses his own vast experience to illustrate each point, so his lessons are filled with anecdotes from his years on the field and insights from his observations as a manager and commentator.
This exhaustive guide will change the way even the most die-hard fan watches the beautiful game.
I Am Zlatan
by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Lagercrantz and Ruth UrbomDaring, flashy, innovative, volatile--no matter what they call him, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of soccer's brightest stars. A top-scoring striker with Paris Saint-Germain and captain of the Swedish national team, he has dominated the world's most storied teams, including Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, and AC Milan. But his life wasn't always so charmed.
Born to Balkan immigrants who divorced when he was a toddler, Zlatan learned self-reliance from his rough-and-tumble neighborhood. While his father, a Bosnian Muslim, drank to forget the war back home, his mother's household was engulfed in chaos. Soccer was Zlatan's release.
Mixing in street moves and trick plays, Zlatan was a wild talent who rode to practice on stolen bikes and relished showing up the rich kids--opponents and teammates alike.
Goal by astonishing goal, the brash young outsider grew into an unlikely prodigy and, by his early twenties, an international phenomenon.
Told as only the man himself could tell it, featuring stories of friendships and feuds with the biggest names in the sport, I Am Zlatan is a wrenching, uproarious, and ultimately redemptive tale for underdogs everywhere.
Inverting The Pyramid
by Jonathan WilsonInverting the Pyramid is a pioneering soccer book that chronicles the evolution of soccer tactics and the lives of the itinerant coaching geniuses who have spread their distinctive styles across the globe.
Through Jonathan Wilson's brilliant historical detective work we learn how the South Americans shrugged off the British colonial order to add their own finesse to the game; how the Europeans harnessed individual technique and built it into a team structure; how the game once featured five forwards up front, while now a lone striker is not uncommon.Inverting the Pyramid provides a definitive understanding of the tactical genius of modern-day Barcelona, for the first time showing how their style of play developed from Dutch "Total Football," which itself was an evolution of the Scottish passing game invented by Queens Park in the 1870s and taken on by Tottenham Hotspur in the 1930s.
Inverting the Pyramid has been called the "Big Daddy" (Zonal Marking) of soccer tactics books; it is essential for any coach, fan, player, or fantasy manager of the beautiful game
Long Distance Love
by Grant FarredGrant Farred is a lifelong soccer fan. He has been rooting for one team -- Liverpool (England) Football Club -- since he was a child.
Long Distance Love explains how "football" opened up the world to a young boy growing up disenfranchised in apartheid South Africa.
For Farred, being a soccer fan enabled him to establish connections with events and people throughout history and from around the globe: from the Spanish Civil War to the atrocities of the Argentine dictatorship of the 1970s and '80s, and from the experience of racism under apartheid to the experience of watching his beloved Liverpool team play on English soil.
Farred shows that issues like race, politics, and war are critical to understanding a sport, especially soccer.
And he writes beautifully, with candor and lyricism.
Long Distance Love does for soccer what C. L. R. James's Beyond a Boundary did for cricket: it provides poetry and politics in equal measure, along with insights on every page.
Luis Suarez
by Luis SuarezLuis Suárez was a young boy already in love with football by the time his family moved from the countryside to Uruguay's capital, Montevideo. The guile and trickery of the street kid made an impact with the country's biggest club, Nacional, before he was spotted by Dutch scouts who brought him to Europe.
Suárez was lured from Ajax to Merseyside by another iconic number 7, Kenny Dalglish. From that moment, he terrorised Premier League defences, driving a resurgent Liverpool towards their most exciting top-flight season in 24 years. But there is another side to Luis Suárez: the naturally fiery temperament which drives his competitiveness on the pitch. There was the very public incident with Patrice Evra of bitter rivals Manchester United, and the biting of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic, for which Suárez received eight- and ten-match suspensions respectively.
Then during the World Cup finals in Brazil, in a physical encounter against Italy, he bit defender Giorgi Chiellini on the shoulder. Banned from football for four months, derided by the press, he left Brazil in the most testing of circumstances.
In the summer's final twist, he became one of the most expensive footballers of all time, moving from Liverpool to Barcelona.
In Crossing the Line, Luis Suárez talks from the heart about his intriguing career, his personal journey from scrapping street kid to performer on football's biggest stage, and the never-say-die attitude that sometimes causes him to overstep the mark.
Mammoth Book of the World Cup
by Nick HoltAn all-encompassing, chronological guide to football's World Cup, one of the world's few truly international events, in good time for the June 2014 kick-off in Rio de Janeiro.
From its beginnings in 1930 to the modern all-singing, all-dancing self-styled `greatest show on Earth?, every tournament is covered with features on major stars and great games, as well as stories about some less celebrated names and quirky stats and intriguing essays.
Holt's focus is very much on what takes place on the field, rather than how football is a mirror for economic corruption, or how a nation's style of play represents a profound statement about its people, or how a passion for football can lift underpaid, socially marginalised people out of poverty.
From the best World Cups, in 1958 and 1970, to the worst, in 1962 and 2010, he looks behind the facts and the technical observations to the stories: the mysterious sins of omission; critical injuries to key players; and coaching U-turns. He explains how England's World Cup achievements under Sven-Göran Eriksson, far from being a national disgrace, were actually quite impressive, and looks at why Alf Ramsey didn't take Bobby Charlton off in 1970, but this is no parochial, jingoistic account.
The book also asks why Brazil did not contribute in 1966, despite having won the previous two tournaments and going on to win the next one? Why the greatest players of their day did not always shine at the World Cup ? George Best and Alfredo Di Stefano, for example, never even made it to the Finals. Why did Johann Cruyff not go to the 1978 World Cup? And why did one of Germany's greatest players never play in the World Cup?
There are lots of tables, some filled with obvious, but necessary information, but others with more quirky observations. Alongside accounts of epic games, there are also brief biographies of all the great heroes of the World Cup.
Masters of Modern Soccer
by Grant WahlIn Masters of Modern Soccer, Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl asks: How do some of the game's smartest figures master the craft of soccer?
By profiling players in every key position (American phenomenon Christian Pulisic, Mexican superstar Javier "Chicharito" Hernández, Belgium's Vincent Kompany, Spain's Xabi Alonso, Germany's Manuel Neuer) and management (Belgium coach Roberto Martínez and Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc), Wahl reveals how elite players and coaches strategize on and off the field and execute in high pressure game situations.
Masters of Modern Soccer is the definitive thinking fan's guide to modern soccer. For a supporter of any team, from the U.S. national teams to Manchester United, or any competition, from Mexico's Liga MX to the World Cup, this book reveals what players and managers are thinking before, during, and after games and delivers a true behind-the-scenes perspective on the inner workings of the sport's brightest minds.
America's premier soccer journalist, Grant Wahl, follows world-class players from across the globe examining how they do their jobs. This access imbues Masters of Modern Soccer with deep insight from the players on how goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and forwards function individually and as a unit to excel and win.
Wahl also shadows a manager and director of soccer as they juggle the challenges of coaching, preparation, and the short- and long-term strategies of how to identify and acquire talent and deploy it on the field.
A book that will stand the test of time, Masters of Modern Soccer is the most in-depth analysis of the craft of soccer ever written for the American fan. For any fan, player, coach, or sideline enthusiast, this book will change the way they watch the game.
Matchdays
by Ronald RengThrough the life story of Heinz Hoher, player, coach, manager, scout and sports director, Ronald Reng tells the dramatic story of the rise of the Bundesliga over the last fifty years since it was founded in 1963.
During that period, football has grown from a game where a club's directors, puffing on cigars, would join the players in their dressing room at half time, to today's highly paid environment, where Red Bull are trying to break into one of the most successful sporting brands in the world. From a country struggling to cope with the Nazi legacy in the 1960s, Germany has emerged as an economic and sporting powerhouse of Europe.
Matchdays recreates the daily life of professional footballers from a different era, when match-fixing, doping and even guns all played their part in the training ground. Hoher himself spent two decades as a manager, once icing up the pitch at his ground to get a game cancelled, and making his living playing cards after he was sacked from the sport he loves.
Already a major bestseller and award-winning book in Germany, Matchdays reveals the truth behind the rise of German football and is sure to fascinate anyone interested in understanding a nation and its rise to the top of the sporting ladder.
The Numbers Game
by Chris Anderson and David SallyMoneyball meets Freakonomics in this myth-busting guide to understanding--and winning--the most popular sport on the planet
Innovation is coming to soccer, and at the center of it all are the numbers--a way of thinking about the game that ignores the obvious in favor of how things actually are. In The Numbers Game, Chris Anderson, a former professional goalkeeper turned soccer statistics guru, teams up with behavioral analyst David Sally to uncover the numbers that really matter when it comes to predicting a winner. Investigating basic but profound questions--How valuable are corners? Which goal matters most? Is possession really nine-tenths of the law? How should a player's value be judged?--they deliver an incisive, revolutionary new way of watching and understanding soccer.
One Goal
by Amy BassIn the tradition of Friday Night Lights and Outcasts United, ONE GOAL tells the inspiring story of the soccer team in a town bristling with racial tension that united Somali refugees and multi-generation Mainers in their quest for state--and ultimately national--glory.
When thousands of Somali refugees resettled in Lewiston, Maine, a struggling, overwhelmingly white town, longtime residents grew uneasy. Then the mayor wrote a letter asking Somalis to stop coming, which became a national story. While scandal threatened to subsume the town, its high school's soccer coach integrated Somali kids onto his team, and their passion began to heal old wounds.
Taking readers behind the tumult of this controversial team--and onto the pitch where the teammates vied to become state champions and achieved a vital sense of understanding--ONE GOAL is a timely story about overcoming the prejudices that divide us.
A Season on the Brink
by Guillem BalagueBiographical Portrait of Liverpool's Spanish football manager Rafael Benitez and an extraordinary season for the club.
When Rafael Benitez was appointed manager of under-achieving Liverpool at the start of the 2004-2005 season, the reaction of many fans was 'Who the **** is Rafael Benitez?'.
The Liverpool fans had grown used to French manager Gerard Houllier but he had been a fan of the club himself since his days as a teacher on Merseyside. A Spaniard with admittedly a wonderful record at Valencia was going to take over management of Liverpool's famous Boot Room and try and win over a disillusioned Kop.
But in one season, Benitez's importation of Spanish players, coaching methods and diet has led to a revolution, even usurping Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, whereby the team has ended the season winning the ultimate trophy for any European club - the European Champions League. No fan will ever forget the comeback from a 3-0 deficit to a 3-3 scoreline, then dramatic success in the penalty shoot-out.
This is the story of Rafa's remarkable success.
The Second Half
by Roddy Doyle and Roy KeaneIn an eighteen-year playing career for Cobh Ramblers, Nottingham Forest (under Brian Clough), Manchester United (under Sir Alex Ferguson) and Celtic, Roy Keane dominated every midfield he led to glory.
Aggressive and highly competitive, his attitude helped him to excel as captain of Manchester United from 1997 until his departure in 2005.
Playing at an international level for nearly all his career, he represented the Republic of Ireland for over fourteen years, mainly as team captain, until an incident with national coach Mick McCarthy resulted in Keane's walk-out from the 2002 World Cup.
Since retiring as a player, Keane has managed Sunderland and Ipswich and has become a highly respected television pundit.
As part of a tiny elite of football players, Roy Keane has had a life like no other. His status as one of football's greatest stars is undisputed, but what of the challenges beyond the pitch?
How did he succeed in coming to terms with life as a former Manchester United and Ireland leader and champion, reinventing himself as a manager and then a broadcaster, and cope with the psychological struggles this entailed?
In a stunning collaboration with Booker Prize-winning author Roddy Doyle, THE SECOND HALF blends anecdote and reflection in Roy Keane's inimitable voice. The result is an unforgettable personal odyssey which fearlessly challenges the meaning of success.
The Secret Diary of Mario Balotelli
by Bruno Vincent'He's a total rock 'n' roller. There's a bit of Mario in all of us - well, maybe not Gary Neville - but the rest of us most definitely.' Noel Gallagher
He may be football's latest superstar, but Mario Balotelli is just as famous off the pitch for his eccentricity and extraordinary antics.
From the time he let off fireworks in his bathroom to the notorious bib incident, he's rarely out of the news.
But in his secret diary* (not his actual secret diary), as we follow Mario through one turbulent football season and the trail of mayhem he leaves in his wake, we discover that the headlines only tell half the story.
Whether he's hiding Silvio Berlusconi in his basement, patrolling the streets of Manchester as a caped crusader or trying to be the first Premiership footballer to go to the moon, the truth is stranger, and much funnier, than we could have expected.
Soccer in Sun and Shadow
by Eduardo GaleanoIn this witty and rebellious history of world soccer, award-winning writer Eduardo Galeano searches for the styles of play, players, and goals that express the unique personality of certain times and places.
In Soccer in Sun and Shadow, Galeano takes us to ancient China, where engravings from the Ming period show a ball that could have been designed by Adidas to Victorian England, where gentlemen codified the rules that we still play by today and to Latin America, where the "crazy English" spread the game only to find it creolized by the locals.
All the greats-Pelé, Di Stéfano, Cruyff, Eusébio, Puskás, Gullit, Baggio, Beckenbauer- have joyous cameos in this book. yet soccer, Galeano cautions, "is a pleasure that hurts." Thus there is also heartbreak and madness. Galeano tells of the suicide of Uruguayan player Abdón Porte, who shot himself in the center circle of the Nacional's stadium; of the Argentine manager who wouldn't let his team eat chicken because it would bring bad luck; and of scandal-riven Diego Maradona whose real crime, Galeano suggests, was always "the sin of being the best."
Soccer is a game that bureaucrats try to dull and the powerful try to manipulate, but it retains its magic because it remains a bewitching game-"a feast for the eyes ... and a joy for the body that plays it"-exquisitely rendered in the magical stories of Soccer in Sun and Shadow.
Soccernomics
by Simon Kuper and Stefan SzymanskiThe 2014 World Cup Edition of the book that does] for soccer what "Moneyball" did for baseball. -"New York Times"
Soccer Without Borders
by Jürgen Klinsmann and Erik KirschbaumA GAME-CHANGING AND FASCINATING BOOK ON HOW TO USE WISDOM FROM AROUND THE WORLD TO CREATE A LASTING, POWERFUL SOCCER TEAM, BY ONE OF THE SPORT'S MOST ICONIC AND EFFECTIVE COACHES
Jurgen Klinsmann, head coach of the U.S. men's national soccer team, has become a household name after the United States' unprecedentedly strong run at the 2014 World Cup. Klinsmann's reputation is that of a maverick, of an unconventional leader who isn't afraid to challenge traditional notions of coaching, and who will breathe new life into foundering programs through sometimes unpopular -but resoundingly successful -new tactics.
In Soccer Without Borders, journalist Erik Kirschbaum lays out Klinsmann's vision for making the U.S. men's soccer team a dominant world power for the first time in its history. Featuring fascinating insights gleaned from Klinsmann's decades of dedicated study - both as a professional striker and as coach of the German national team - this book is an immersive and unparalleled road map for how to build a winning team in the most competitive professional sport on the globe, as well as an infectious tribute to "the most beautiful game" by one of its most adroit students.
Splashdown
by Chris AshtonFrom try scoring records to controversial celebrations, Chris Ashton has had an amazing year. Announcing his star presence with an awesome 85-metre try against Australia, Chris burst onto the scene and has lit up Twickenham.
In his new book he delves into the England rugby team's renaissance, a victorious Six Nations campaign, the build-up to the Rugby World Cup and the tournament itself in New Zealand. From dynamic tries on the pitch to behind-the-scenes life on tour, this is the story of England's Rugby World Cup journey from the player everyone is talking about.
Stamping Grounds
by Charlie ConnellyStamping Grounds follows the Liechtenstein national football team through their defeat-strewn qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup.
Drawn in a group with Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria and mighty Spain, it was hard to see the principality's part-time players scoring even one goal, never mind adding to its meagre international points total. So what motivates a nation of 30,000 people and eleven villages to keep plugging away despite the inevitability of defeat?
Travelling to all of Liechenstein's qualifying matches, Charlie Connelly examines what motivates a team to take the field dressed proudly in the shirts of Liechtenstein despite the knowledge that they are, with notably few exceptions, in for a damn good hiding.
Sampling the delights of Liechtenstein's capital, Vaduz, such as the Postage Stamp Museum, the State Art Museum and, er, the Postage Stamp Museum again, Connelly provides an evocative and witty account of the land where every year on National Day the sovereign invites the entire population into his garden for a glass of wine.
Touched by God
by Daniel Arcucci and Diego Armando MaradonaThe long-awaited firsthand account of the most remarkable—and controversial—World Cup triumph in history, from the legendary player who made it that way “This is Diego Armando Maradona speaking, the man who scored two goals against England and one of the few Argentines who knows how much the World Cup actually weighs”
In June 1986, Diego Maradona—one of soccer’s greatest and most polarizing figures—proudly hoisted the World Cup above his head. Since then, Argentina’s World Cup victory has become the stuff of legend, particularly their infamous victory over England—only four years after the country’s defeat in the Falklands War—which featured arguably the best goal in history (Maradona’s “Goal of the Century”) and the worst (the notorious “Hand of God”).
But Argentina’s victory came after months of struggle and discord within the team, including the Argentine government’s attempt to remove the team’s management, a lack of equipment that forced the players to buy their own uniforms, and an argument that caused the team’s captain to quit on the eve of the tournament.
Now, thirty years after Argentina’s magical victory, Maradona tells his side of the story, vividly recounting how he led the team to win one of the greatest World Cup triumphs of all time.
Twelve Yards
by Ben LyttletonAn all-encompassing look at the penalty kick, soccer's all-or-nothing play--its legendary moments and the secrets to its success.No stretch of grass has been the site of more glory or heartbreak in the world of sports than the few dozen paces between goalkeeper and penalty kicker in soccer.
In theory, it's simple: place the ball beyond a single defender and secure a place in history. But once the chosen players make the lonely march from their respective sides of the pitch, everything changes, all bets are off, and anything can happen.
Drawing from the hardwon lessons of legendary games, in-depth statistical analysis, expert opinion, and the firsthand experience of coaches and players from around the world, journalist Ben Lyttleton offers insight into the diverse attitudes, tactics, and techniques that separate success from failure in one of the highest-pressure situations sports has to offer.
The Ugly Game
by Jonathan Calvert and Heidi BlakeThis meticulously reported account by two award-winning, investigative journalists at Britain's The Sunday Times explains how the 2022 World Cup was secured for Qatar--a key element in the ongoing, international FIFA controversy.
When the tiny desert state of Qatar won the rights to host the 2022 World Cup, the news was greeted with shock and disbelief. How had a country with almost no soccer infrastructure or tradition, a high terror risk, and searing summer temperatures, beaten more established countries with stronger bids? The story behind the Qatari success soon developed into a global news sensation.
In 2014 The Sunday Times Insight team in the UK spilled the secrets of a bombshell cache of hundreds of millions of secret documents, which were leaked by a whistleblower. In forensic detail, they reported how Mohamed Bin Hammam, Qatar's top soccer official, used his position to help secure the votes that Qatar needed to win the bid. The investigative team spent three months painstakingly piecing together Bin Hammam's activities and reporting on cash handouts, lavish junkets, and evidence of payments to soccer officials around the world.
Now in this remarkable book by The Sunday Times journalists at the center of the investigation, Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert, comes a comprehensive account of what happened and who was involved. A bestseller in the UK, The Ugly Game is undoubtedly the biggest sporting story of recent times.
What We Think About When We Think About Soccer
by Simon CritchleyYou play soccer. You watch soccer. You live soccer You breathe soccer. But do you think about soccer?
Soccer is the world’s most popular sport, inspiring the absolute devotion of countless fans around the globe. But what is it about soccer that makes it so compelling to watch, discuss, and think about? Is it what it says about class, race, or gender? Is it our national, regional, or tribal identities?
Simon Critchley thinks it’s all of these and more. In his new book, he explains what soccer can tell us about each, and how each informs the way we interpret the game, all while building a new system of aesthetics, or even poetics, that we can use to watch the beautiful game.
Critchley has made a career out of bringing philosophy to the people through popular subjects, and in What We Think About When We Think About Soccer he uses his considerable philosophical acumen to examine the sport that has captured the hearts and minds of millions.
Why Soccer Matters
by Pelé and Brian WinterSoccer. Football. The beautiful game. The world's most popular sport goes by many names, but for decades, fans have agreed on one thing: the greatest player of all time was Pelé.
Now the legendary star, ambassador, and humanitarian shares a global vision for what soccer can accomplish. Now he shares his story, his experience, and his insights on the game for the very first time.
Before Messi, before Ronaldo, before Beckham, there was Edson Arantes do Nascimento--known simply as Pelé. A national treasure, he created pure magic with his accomplishments on the field: an unprecedented three World Cup championships and the all-time scoring record, with 1,283 goals in his twenty year career.
Now, with the World Cup returning after more than sixty years to Brazil--the country often credited with perfecting the sport--soccer has a unique opportunity to encourage change on a global level. And as the tournament's official ambassador, Pelé is ready to be the face of progress.
For the first time ever Pelé explores the recent history of the game and provides new insights into soccer's role connecting and galvanizing players around the world. He has traveled the world as the global ambassador for soccer and in support of charitable organizations such as Unicef, promoting the positive influences soccer can have to transform young men and women, struggling communities, even entire nations. In groundbreaking detail and with unparalleled openness, he shares his most inspiring experiences, heartwarming stories and hard-won wisdom, and he puts the game in perspective.
This is Pelé's legacy, his way of passing on everything he's learned and inspiring a new generation. In Why Soccer Matters, Pelé details his ambitious goals for the future of the sport and, by extension, the world. Commemorative poster inside the jacket
Winning at All Costs
by John FootThe 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France was a down-and-dirty game, marred by French superstar Zidane's head-butting of Italian defender Materazzi.
But viewers were also exposed to the poetry, force, and excellence of the Italian game; as operatic as Verdi and as cunning as Machiavelli, it seemed to open a window into the Italian soul.
John Foot's epic history shows what makes Italian soccer so unique. Mixing serious analysis and comic storytelling, Foot describes its humble origins in northern Italy in the 1890s to its present day incarnation where soccer is the national civic religion.
A story that is reminiscent of Gangs of New York and A Clockwork Orange, Foot shows how the Italian game - like its political culture - has been overshadowed by big business, violence, conspiracy, and tragedy, how demagogues like Benito Mussolini and Silvio Berlusconi have used the game to further their own political ambitions.
But Winning at All Costs also celebrates the sweet moments - the four World Cup victories, the success of Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan, the role soccer played in the resistance to Nazism, and the great managers and players who show that Italian soccer is as irresistible as Italy itself.
World Cup 2018 Russia Essential Guide
by Ultimate World Cup BooksLooking for the definitive World Cup 2018 guide amidst a sea of soccer books? The World Cup 2018 Russia Essential Guide provides a helpful outline to all 32 teams and their standings as they prepare for the FIFA World Cup 2018.
After three years of qualification matches, the FIFA World Cup 2018 will open on June 14, 2018, in Moscow, Russia. Divided into eight groups of four teams each, these 32 teams will be vying for the most prestigious trophy in world soccer.
The World Cup 2018 Russia Essential Guide includes informative summaries of each group and valuable context on their chances in the tournament, making it the perfect reference for every soccer fan as they watch the World Cup Russia 2018 this summer.