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Eight World Cups: My Journey Through The Beauty And Dark Side Of Soccer (2014)

by George Vecsey(Favorite Author)

3.62 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0805098488 (ISBN13: 9780805098488)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Times Books

review 1: This was a fun read, considering the Round of 16 in Brazil is about to start. It wasn't particularly in-depth, but Vecsey's "soccer memory" (as he refers to it at one point) is longer than mine. I appreciated the first half of the book, where he recounts tournaments I wasn't alive for/too young to remember. The later half was a good nostalgic read. I did like that he also spent time on the women's tournaments, not just the men's world cup that this book was clearly timed for. But like others have said, Vecsey is awfully light on details, considering he's been a sports journalist for fifty-some years. He has spent most of his career covering baseball, so maybe this brevity is to be expected. (Or maybe it's to be expected because brevity was the only way to get the bo... moreok finished in time to be released just prior to the World Cup.)
review 2: I picked up a copy of this book just after the start of the 2014 World Cup. I'm a novice soccer fan with no specific allegiances, but I've enjoyed watching what I could of the last two competitions in 2006 and 2010. I thought that, aside from educating me in the recent history of the world's most popular sport, reading this would get me excited for the tournament. Vecsey's book taught me a lot about the game, and watching this year's World Cup has been more enjoyable for me as a result. The author takes turns describing his personal connection to soccer, and traces the history of the United States men's and women's teams alongside tales of his experiences at each tournament since 1982. Vecsey does an excellent job of describing his travels and adventures around the world in each of the years of Cup competition. While I had some difficulty keeping up with the names of players, coaches, and soccer figures from around the world, simply because of my limited knowledge of soccer history, it was still fun to read about him zipping around Germany during the 2006 competition, and about him meeting an English hooligan in Italy in 1990. Two of the later chapters in the book deal with corruption in FIFA, world soccer's governing body, as well as with the emergence of the United States as an influential power in the sport. I particularly enjoyed the background that Vecsey shared on the development of the 2014 U.S. team, and their new coach, Jurgen Klinsmann.While it may not bother everyone that reads the book, I was somewhat turned off by Vecsey's bizarre insertions of commentaries on American politics. I'm not sure how his criticism of the Tea Party fits in with international soccer history, but he must have felt like he needed to include his remarks for some reason--what that was, I'm not sure.Still, the book is very enjoyable, and I recommend it in particular to anyone like me, who has a limited background in the sport, but who is eager to learn more. less

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