The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup

June 1, 2006
In June, 32 nations will send representatives to 12 German cities for an international summit -the 2006 World Cup. Thousands will attend, and literally millions will watch television coverage of the world -s largest sports competition, which arrives every four years. Bigger than the World Series, the Super Bowl, or the Daytona 500, the World Cup is, as Crouch reminds us, -an opportunity for the Davids to mix with the Goliaths, - an event so remarkable it consumes a full month of the calendar and diverts attention of fans and detractors of soccer alike.

These three books have soccer and the World Cup in common, but the similarities stop there. "The Thinking Fan -s Guide" contains 32 lively new narratives by authors representing each nation in the competition, each writer placing past cup action -and the significance of soccer -in the perspective of his or her specific culture. Authors include former foreign minister of Mexico Jorge G. Casta, best-selling British novelist Nick Hornby, and American memoirist and publisher Dave Eggers on soccer in the United States. The result is a fun book with more emphasis on soccer generally than on the World Cup, but there are around 40 pages in this inexpensive volume devoted to cup records, host cities, and the 2006 match schedule. This book is the best for social commentary related to world soccer but inadequate for World Cup and soccer minutia.

In contrast is Crouch -s voluminous encyclopedic record of past cups, arranged chronologically by host city, beginning with the 1930 finals in Uruguay. The more recent the competition, the more complete the information -for example, the 1970 World Cup in Mexico is covered in 20 pages; France -s 1998 event runs on for over 70, but whatever the length, each cup competition is detailed through listing all available statistics with highly readable narratives describing the matches. This is a historical record book, rather than a thorough guide for this year -s event.

"The Ultimate Guide" is the most intriguing of these three books because of its possibilities for embracing a variety of relevant formats. Fiore (Republica Deportiva, Univision Network) manages to cover cup history, the teams, a scorecard for every game, and useful descriptions of the 12 host cities. The history of past World Cups consumes most of the pages. This is perfect in concept but woefully short on information, as its format offers one page on each team and one page on each city, and no rosters are included.

Sadly, none of these books is ideal for those following the World Cup 2006. Working together, the publishers and authors might have produced the definitive World Cup guide. Librarians should purchase Crouch -s volume as a sound reference tool and trust their own discretion on whether to purchase the other two." - Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., AL"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2006
Soccer's World Cup, unlike baseball's World Series, is truly global. And with soccer's fluidity and lack of set plays, it's easier to write about the context of the game than about the game itself. The editors, both Americans, gather essays for each of the 32 countries competing in the 2006 World Cup, providing an exceptional variety of discourse and digression on soccer as it relates to politics, culture, and personal life. Henning Mankell examines what it means to war-ravaged Angola simply to compete. Nick Hornby explores globalization as it relates to soccer in England. Sukhdev Sandhu writes about a fatwa forbidding the game "except when played as training for Jihad" in Saudi Arabia. Tim Parks (Italy), Jim Frederick (Japan), Robert Coover (Spain), and Dave Eggers (U.S.) also contribute standout essays. Despite a few missteps--essays that read as if soccer was added only in revision--this is a fine anthology, thought provoking and enjoyable, proving that we can learn vital things about societies through their attitudes toward sport. And there's no book like it about baseball.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)