Customer Reviews

GOOOAL: A Celebration of Soccer

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Writing about the World Cups is similar to writing about politics: it is difficult for the author to write objectively. But as in love, politics, war and soccer, opinions turn out to be the heart of the matter. Cantor and Arcucci have done an excellent job of recounting the World Cups yet at the same time letting their Argentine passion for the sport express itself on the pages. This is a book all soccer officionado should read. All the chapters have a great interview with a great figure from each World Cup. For all of you who think that you know everthing about the Cups, this book will open your horizons to a South American point of view. For those who don't know enough, this book will infuse you with the passion for the greatest sporting championship of all time.

Soccer (football to the rest of the world) is ideally played at its highest level by players representing their home nations in the FIFA World Cup Finals tournament held every four years, a sporting event rivalled on a worldwide level only by the Olympic Games. From the tournament's beginning in 1930, the winning nations have hailed exclusively from the continents of Europe (three times champions include Germany and Italy, as well as single time winners England and France) and South America (five-times champions Brazil, and two-times winners Uruguay and Argentina).

As the game was created in England and therefore has the longest-established leagues and sports journalism histories there, most of the best periodical publications and books written regarding the game also originate in Britain. Probably the best book written from British shores regarding the World Cup history is Brian Glanville's "The Story of the World Cup" (ASIN: 0571190812). As would be expected, the book does have a rather biased leaning toward the European view of the game, and Glanville's writing, while rather accomplished for a sports scribe, can at times be somewhat condescending in tone regarding the aspects of the game that aren't common to European sports cultures (and particularly regarding the Argentina-England soccer/football rivalry began in 1966).

"GOOOAL!" seems remarkably fresh in comparison. It is written by a South American native (Argentinian, specifically) who is indeed a sports journalist of a sort; Andres Cantor is a sportscaster who can best be described to sports fans from North America who aren't familiar with his work or style as John Madden, Don Cherry, and Howard Cosell all rolled up into to one impossibly gregarious and larger-than-life personality. It is obvious from listening to his broadcasts (even if you don't speak a word of the Spanish language...which I don't) that Cantor is first and foremost a fan of the game around which he bases his trade. Whereas Glanville's writing seems rather detached and coldly impersonal and at times even sardonic (much like the German nacionalmannschaft at its highest levels from 1966 through 1996), Cantor brings the emotional element that South American players AND supporters are known overseas for displaying during games...and yes, it is rather biased toward South American countries. However, Cantor's strength as a writer lies in his optomistic approach; he may take a more positive approach to the game played by the nations from his home continent, but he doesn't take a negative approach toward anyone. He probably worships at the shrine of Diego Armando Maradona more than he should, but even the Europeans concede that despite the more controversial elements of his career on and off the playing field, Maradona is still one of the two best players ever to lace up a pair of cleats.

Another nice element to this book is the interviews conducted by the author at the end of each tournament summary with a particular star from that tournament. Interestingly enough, there were no interviews with members of any of the three German teams that won World Cups in 1954, 1974, or 1990, although there were certainly no lack of stars from which to choose from those teams. The players comment on the state of the game, what direction they see the game heading, and the contrast within the game from their own playing time to the present. And of course they speak of their own contributions, as well.

The appendix section is rather more complete than Glanville's book, with goalscoring credit given for every goal scored in the tournament finals from 1930 through 1994. It would have been nice to have listed the rosters of all teams that competed within the tournaments as well, but that is a small enough complaint.

For uninitiated sports fans interested in the World Cup history of soccer from 1930 through 1994, this book along with Glanville's "The Story of the World Cup" provide a fine overview, neither being weighed down in fine-toothed combed detail; both are absolute necessities. They make up two sides of the same coin and should not be read without the other.

I had the pleasure to meet Mr. Cantor during his book signing in Washington, DC. He was very affable, and we had a pleasant discussion about our common passion of world football.

Within the international soccer broadcasting world, Mr. Cantor is without an equal. I have heard hundreds of his broadcasts, and was always impressed by his encyclopedic knowledge of the sport. He seemed to take great pains to learn how to pronounce the names of every player, and to provide his audience with an entertaining narration. His attention to detail and research skills are aptly demonstrated in this book. If you were a Martian who landed on Earth, you would read this book to learn about our most popular sport. :-)

This book is a comprehensive discussion about the evolution of soccer, and how politics often hastened its development. Mr. Cantor provides us with a history of the World Cup, along with detailed accounts of specific games. He also presents the reader with several intriguing interviews with world-class coaches and players. For me, these discussions were the most enlightening feature of the book. This book will entertain the serious enthusiast, yet also educate new fans about the sport.

The archive of photographs is compelling. We see the fascist salutes of Mussolini's Azzurri (1934), the precocious 17 year old Pele scoring a goal in Sweden (1958), along with the tears of Diego Maradona after Argentina's loss to Germany (1990.) Whether you call this sport football, soccer, futbol, or calcio, this book will inform, educate, and entertain. As Pele of Brazil would say, this is about "The Beautiful Game."

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

From the first page of this book I couldn't get over the idea that this whole exercise was some marketing guy's idea. "Hey, Cantor's famous. He could put drivel on a page and diehard soccer fans will buy it. Shouldn't be too hard to make a profit on this one. And just to be safe, we'll have it ghosted. That way all he really has to do is pose for the cover." Cantor's an entertaining guy, but his history of the World Cup is only marginally interesting. It's stiff, and difficult to hang with for more than about ten pages at a time. All in all it's pretty mediocre stuff. If you're looking for a book that captures the entertaining goofiness of Cantor's personna, this, regrettably, isn't it. Maybe next time. I hope so.

This is a fine book which details every World Cup since it began in 1930. Let's be honest, Andres Cantor is from Argentina and often his view is preoccupied with the "Albiceleste" (in reference to the blue and white stripes of Argentina's jerseys); but that really is part of what makes this book good. You can not be from the football/soccer world and be unbiased; save if you are from the United States where the fever has not taken hold to the extent it has in other countries. I would opine too, Andres is a bit in favor of the Italians as well. Having watched his telecasts for Univision; the book is a bit like those telecasts, he expresses a lot of excitement for example over the 1990 Golden Boot (most goals in the World Cup) winner Salvatore "Toto" Schillaci. Cantor gets so excited it is something one can not forget. Reading the book 14 years after that World Cup just refreshes the memory.

Cantor may go overboard on his coverage of Argentina but it would be difficult to call him unobjective in his portrayals of the Cup. He calls Maradona's hand of God goal, that what it was, a handball that should not have counted as a soccer/football goal and likewise, tells us that Hurst's goal against Germany was did not actually cross the line in full according to science at Oxford University in England. Of course, this latter incident has been up to scientific scrutiny before and since so I don't think the final verdict is in.

Possibly in slight gradations, Cantor is not always kind to some countries, be it England or Brazil; but overall, he hits the mark. He is obviously better informed on the subject than almost anyone.

This rather detailed reference of the World Cup ends with the 1994 World Cup held in America. It's a decent book, I wish there had been some sort of final chapter with Cantor's reflections on the game. It should be updated.

The one thing, is Cantor certainly is associated with the vociferous excitable call of "Goooal!" but at times, I wonder if he almost takes too much credit for it. Of course, he does mention that he learned it from others. Still, the long accentuated exclamation can be found up and down Latin America and was in fact, done quite well by Cantor's predecessor at Univision Tony Tirado. I don't even remember seeing him even mentioned in the book. Yet, given the subject matter which is just about endless, Cantor scores with a fine book.