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The ESPN World Cup Companion: Everything You Need to Know About the Planet's Biggest Sports Event
Nothing unites—and excites—the sporting planet like a World Cup. For one month every four years, billions of people rearrange their lives, play hooky, and ignore their loved ones in order to watch 22 men kick a ball in pursuit of a small gold statue and athletic immortality.
On the eve of one of the most historically significant World Cup of all—the first to be held in Africa—you need a tour guide more than ever. Learned yet lively, elegantly designed, and bursting with historical photos, The ESPN World Cup Companion celebrates every World Cup since 1930, highlighting each era’s Greatest Players, Games, Teams, Players, Rivalries, and Cult Figures. But coauthors David Hirshey and Roger Bennett relish the game for all its beauty and vulgarity, subtlety and brutality, examining every aspect of World Cup culture; here you’ll find a rogue’s gallery of the game’s biggest divas and divers, the DNA of the world’s powerhouses , the psychodrama of the penalty shoot out, the physics of the free kick, the five soccer fans you’ll meet in hell, and even the art of scoring off the field.
The ESPN World Cup Companion captures all the sweat, blood, tears, and bad hairdos of the last 80 years. Whether you’re a casual fan or a long-time aficionado of the sport, this book bridges the gap between merely watching the planet’s biggest sporting event and truly understanding it.
So paint your face, hoist your vuvuzela, or just grab your trusty remote, but whatever you do make sure The ESPN World Cup Companion is by your side.
On the eve of one of the most historically significant World Cup of all—the first to be held in Africa—you need a tour guide more than ever. Learned yet lively, elegantly designed, and bursting with historical photos, The ESPN World Cup Companion celebrates every World Cup since 1930, highlighting each era’s Greatest Players, Games, Teams, Players, Rivalries, and Cult Figures. But coauthors David Hirshey and Roger Bennett relish the game for all its beauty and vulgarity, subtlety and brutality, examining every aspect of World Cup culture; here you’ll find a rogue’s gallery of the game’s biggest divas and divers, the DNA of the world’s powerhouses , the psychodrama of the penalty shoot out, the physics of the free kick, the five soccer fans you’ll meet in hell, and even the art of scoring off the field.
The ESPN World Cup Companion captures all the sweat, blood, tears, and bad hairdos of the last 80 years. Whether you’re a casual fan or a long-time aficionado of the sport, this book bridges the gap between merely watching the planet’s biggest sporting event and truly understanding it.
So paint your face, hoist your vuvuzela, or just grab your trusty remote, but whatever you do make sure The ESPN World Cup Companion is by your side.
- GenresSportsNonfiction
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 8, 2019
Nice coffee table read
April 27, 2010
First of all, potential readers/purchasers of this "companion" to the World Cup should know that it doesn't have much of anything on the 2010 World Cup -- not even the qualifying paths of the 32 finalists. Similarly, those with little to no exposure to the game should be warned that the writing assumes a familiarity with the game and its terms, so don't expect your hand to be held. There's no discussion of the game's tactics, styles, or formations. So, what does it have?
Well, it's a coffee-table book covering the history of the World Cup, and I use the term "coffee-table" in all its best and worst senses. From what I can tell, the production is going to be great, eye-popping color, great use of historical photos (these are actually the highlight of the book for me, many amazing photos I've never seen before), and it's perfect to dip into for a few minutes and put back on the table when your host comes down the stairs. However, it's basically a book of sidebars -- that is to say, tons of one or two-page articles, with no flow to it whatsoever. It's arranged more or less chronologically, recounting the highlights and lowlights of each World Cup in a few picture-heavy pages. But these are broken up with all kinds of running features (greatest goals, greatest teams, greatest rivalries, underheralded players, etc.) To a certain extent, it's almost more like clicking around a website, jumping all around between different topics. Personally, I like a little less choppiness to my books, but to each their own.
The writing is pretty decent, although a touch too jokey for my taste. Probably just the right tone for the casual soccer fan or the American sports fan who only watches soccer every four years. I could have done without some of the sections, like the worst hair tournament, and the best and worst uniforms (if you're going to bust on Croatia's checkerboard kit, at least explain that it's the national coat of arms), the WAGs (wives and girlfriends) section, etc. The descriptions of previous World Cups are engaging enough, albeit a bit thin. For example, in the section on the '82 cup, mention is made of the infamous German-Austrian collusion in a game to ensure Algeria wouldn't advance. What isn't mentioned is that this game led to a change in the group play format, whereby the final games in each group are played simultaneously to avoid teams putting the fix in. I did appreciate that, as in the above example (which includes a great big photo of Algerian fans waving money to protest the Germany-Austria game), the book doesn't shy away from some the less shining moments and aspects of the tournament, such as diving, nationalism, dirty play, etc.
The book tries really hard to touch on a lot of different topics, and to me, it never really came together and offered me a new perspective or insight. I can't say I learned anything new about the sport or the World Cup, but then again, I sat through all 13 hours of the excellent History of Soccer DVD set. I'm not saying it's not worth a look, but just don't expect it to be something amazing or to tell you anything about the 2010 World Cup.
Well, it's a coffee-table book covering the history of the World Cup, and I use the term "coffee-table" in all its best and worst senses. From what I can tell, the production is going to be great, eye-popping color, great use of historical photos (these are actually the highlight of the book for me, many amazing photos I've never seen before), and it's perfect to dip into for a few minutes and put back on the table when your host comes down the stairs. However, it's basically a book of sidebars -- that is to say, tons of one or two-page articles, with no flow to it whatsoever. It's arranged more or less chronologically, recounting the highlights and lowlights of each World Cup in a few picture-heavy pages. But these are broken up with all kinds of running features (greatest goals, greatest teams, greatest rivalries, underheralded players, etc.) To a certain extent, it's almost more like clicking around a website, jumping all around between different topics. Personally, I like a little less choppiness to my books, but to each their own.
The writing is pretty decent, although a touch too jokey for my taste. Probably just the right tone for the casual soccer fan or the American sports fan who only watches soccer every four years. I could have done without some of the sections, like the worst hair tournament, and the best and worst uniforms (if you're going to bust on Croatia's checkerboard kit, at least explain that it's the national coat of arms), the WAGs (wives and girlfriends) section, etc. The descriptions of previous World Cups are engaging enough, albeit a bit thin. For example, in the section on the '82 cup, mention is made of the infamous German-Austrian collusion in a game to ensure Algeria wouldn't advance. What isn't mentioned is that this game led to a change in the group play format, whereby the final games in each group are played simultaneously to avoid teams putting the fix in. I did appreciate that, as in the above example (which includes a great big photo of Algerian fans waving money to protest the Germany-Austria game), the book doesn't shy away from some the less shining moments and aspects of the tournament, such as diving, nationalism, dirty play, etc.
The book tries really hard to touch on a lot of different topics, and to me, it never really came together and offered me a new perspective or insight. I can't say I learned anything new about the sport or the World Cup, but then again, I sat through all 13 hours of the excellent History of Soccer DVD set. I'm not saying it's not worth a look, but just don't expect it to be something amazing or to tell you anything about the 2010 World Cup.
June 19, 2014
Breezy, detail-laden overview of the World Cup -- history, rivalries, superstar players, infamous bad calls, and everything else you'd want to know are in here. It gets the job done, and is by no means a bad read; the writing is professional, a sense of humor pervades throughout, and they have a good eye for the absurdities inherent to the sport.
ESPN Guide to the World Cup never quite reaches the sublime heights of "FreeDarko presents The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats, and Stars in Today's Game," which is the gold standard for overviews of a sport. That book's humor, design and unique point of view (along with obsessive anal retentive stat analysis) really took it to the next level. ESPN Guide to WC on the other hand will not convert you to being interested in soccer if you didn't already care.
Nevertheless, if interested, it's worth picking up used.
Oh one other thing-- this book could really benefit from having embedded YouTube clips instead of static images. If ever there were a need for a real ebook this is it. There's a whole section called "Greatest Goals," that really demands YouTube. Example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsZkCF...
"Famed Dutch commentator Jack van Gelder all but spontaneously combusted. His screams of "DENNIS BERGKAMP! DEN-NIS BEEEERG-KAAAAMP!!!!!!" were followed by a sound previously emitted only by dolphins that went something like: "WWWWHHHHOOOOOAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!""
ESPN Guide to the World Cup never quite reaches the sublime heights of "FreeDarko presents The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats, and Stars in Today's Game," which is the gold standard for overviews of a sport. That book's humor, design and unique point of view (along with obsessive anal retentive stat analysis) really took it to the next level. ESPN Guide to WC on the other hand will not convert you to being interested in soccer if you didn't already care.
Nevertheless, if interested, it's worth picking up used.
Oh one other thing-- this book could really benefit from having embedded YouTube clips instead of static images. If ever there were a need for a real ebook this is it. There's a whole section called "Greatest Goals," that really demands YouTube. Example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsZkCF...
"Famed Dutch commentator Jack van Gelder all but spontaneously combusted. His screams of "DENNIS BERGKAMP! DEN-NIS BEEEERG-KAAAAMP!!!!!!" were followed by a sound previously emitted only by dolphins that went something like: "WWWWHHHHOOOOOAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!""
September 9, 2011
i love the way the book starts with the first world cup than to the last
August 25, 2014
Full of scandal! Who knew?
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews