David Wangerin's humorous and thorough book tells the story of American soccer's long struggle from the brief promise of the 1920's, through the euphoric highs and extravagant follies of the North American Soccer League, to today's hard-won acceptance.
Soccer in a Football World
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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
In 1987, sick of defending an “un-American” activity, soccer-mad Wisconsinite Wangerin immigrated to England. After many years of thinking that the U.S. “did not deserve” the game, his mixed feelings led him to research the States’ surprising history with the sport, which has often included plenty of drama if not always plenty of fans. In thorough fashion, Wangerin moves from past to present, covering our unique terminology (why do we call it soccer when the world calls it football?); peculiar rules (we have often played it our own way); governing bodies and leagues (there have been many); World Cup triumphs and missteps (many more of the latter); the ongoing fortunes of Major League Soccer; and, above all, the culture surrounding the game. Neither as narrative-driven as Jim Haner’s Soccerhead (2006) nor as entertaining as Gavin Newsham’s Once in a Lifetime (2006), this nonetheless provides a greater level of detail and is a good purchase where soccer-mad patrons—and there are more of them these days—provide demand. --Keir Graff
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By DubyaW
Format:Paperback
This book provides a great look into the history of the American game. Other books (Soccerhead being one of the better examples) have provided short outlines of pre-NASL soccer, but Wangerin is successful at seeking out the distant past of American soccer and provides as indepth a history as anyone will probably ever do. One of his main arguments, that while soccer may never be big in America, it's never been a better time for American soccer, is well proved throughout the book's tales of organizational infighting and inexplicable decisions by almost everyone involved in the sport at its highest levels in the US. This book winds up serving not only as a recounting of the past, but also a warning for the future so that American soccer never falls back into the depths of despair it has in the past.
The few issues I have with the book are that little attention is given to the women's game (roughly 12 pages in the 300+ page book), and it feels that Wangerin rushes through the post-1994 history, only hitting some major talking points of the 1998 and 2002 World Cups and some brief history of MLS. Also, very little is mentioned about the US Youth National Teams. I would also like to suggest that eventually this book be updated, since it ends around 2005. The back of the book mentions David Beckham's move to the US with the LA Galaxy, but the book ends its look at the sport in America before Beckham arrival.
With that being said, anyone interested in soccer in America should definitely check this out.
The few issues I have with the book are that little attention is given to the women's game (roughly 12 pages in the 300+ page book), and it feels that Wangerin rushes through the post-1994 history, only hitting some major talking points of the 1998 and 2002 World Cups and some brief history of MLS. Also, very little is mentioned about the US Youth National Teams. I would also like to suggest that eventually this book be updated, since it ends around 2005. The back of the book mentions David Beckham's move to the US with the LA Galaxy, but the book ends its look at the sport in America before Beckham arrival.
With that being said, anyone interested in soccer in America should definitely check this out.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Many people think that the history of soccer in the United States dates back to around the time that Pele arrived in New York in 1975. This magnificent book very firmly refutes that idea, giving a full account of the sport's history in this country dating back to its 19th-century origins.
---Roger Allaway, Historian, National Soccer Hall of Fame
---Roger Allaway, Historian, National Soccer Hall of Fame
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Elliott
Format:Paperback
First, let me say, if you are a fan of American soccer then you should buy this book. David did an amazing job of researching and documenting the unique twists and turns of the sport in North America.
That being said, at times the author gets too caught up in the nuts & bolts, jumping from historical anecdote to historical anecdote, to truly paint a coherent picture. There are lots of wonderful brush strokes, but no truly in depth picture of American soccer pioneers emerges. Obviously, the focus of the book was not autobiographies of a handful of soccer pioneers, but a bit more ink on the life of Lamar Hunt would have illuminated one of the biggest recurring problems - a professional sport needs owners to survive, but soccer only attracted quirky billionaires who viewed themselves more as prophets than franchisees.
Still, some of the historical tidbits are as funny as they are embarrassing - a good read.
That being said, at times the author gets too caught up in the nuts & bolts, jumping from historical anecdote to historical anecdote, to truly paint a coherent picture. There are lots of wonderful brush strokes, but no truly in depth picture of American soccer pioneers emerges. Obviously, the focus of the book was not autobiographies of a handful of soccer pioneers, but a bit more ink on the life of Lamar Hunt would have illuminated one of the biggest recurring problems - a professional sport needs owners to survive, but soccer only attracted quirky billionaires who viewed themselves more as prophets than franchisees.
Still, some of the historical tidbits are as funny as they are embarrassing - a good read.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of My All-Time Favorites
At first glance this looks to be just another text on the history of soccer. There are many on the market today, but none delivers the message of this book. Read more
Published 23 months ago by ISN Soccer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Red, White and Blue Soccer!
If you are a fan of the US National Team or MLS, you honestly owe it to yourself to read this.
This book is about our American game. Read more
This book is about our American game. Read more
Published on May 9, 2009 by Tom Plum
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