Eight World Cups: My Journey through the Beauty and Dark Side of Soccer
As a longtime columnist for the New York Times, Vecsey (Stan Musial: An American Life, 2011) has covered many sports but has a special passion for soccer. His reporting on eight World Cups—from Spain in 1982 to South Africa in 2010—forms the basis for this fond memoir, an exceedingly enjoyable blend of travelogue, sportswriting, and social analysis. Deftly condensing games and tournaments into their essential moments, he revisits incidents both infamous (Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal, Zidane’s head butt) and unfairly unremembered (Caligiuri’s 1989 goal in Trinidad and Tobago that would send the U.S. to its first World Cup in 40 years), with infectious enthusiasm that makes clear the game’s appeal. He has a keen eye for context, celebrating what makes the World Cup unique among competitions (friendlier fans, for starters) while also enumerating the many corruption charges leveled against its organizing body, FIFA. Easily accessible to general readers, Eight World Cups makes a wonderful background to the World Cup kicking off this June in Brazil—which will be, if he goes, Vecsey’s ninth. --Keir Graff