Customer Reviews

The World Cup: The Ultimate Guide to the Greatest Sports Spectacle in the World

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For the English speakers, this is the translation of the most wonderful book by a true fanzaço Fernando Fiore , to celebrate the coming of the 2006 Copa Mundial! (Vamos al Mundial is the title of this book).

Written with a big heart and much love, and with the (small) inroads "o jogo bonito" is making in the USA, this book is not just a guide to the Germany experience and description team to team fo the happy national sides, but a great history of all the World Cup from the very beginning to 2002. (I will hope this book is updated in 2010 , just as Eduardo Galeano's "El Futbol a Sol y Sombra" made the updated edition!).

Don Nando's perspective as an argentino , transplanted from uruguai and with also Italian ancestry closely parallels my history, as it relates to futebol.
(Sorry to say, Seu Nandinho,..I am "Boca" in Argi, "e sou Verdão também"! However my ancesrty compels me this year to forsake "O Penta" and shout 'Forrrrrza Azzzzzzurrrrrrri!)

He colors each page with his admiration and affection for the beautiful game, its stars, and all the surprises it brings. As well, a historical perspective , both from history passed and personal experience enable me to "smell the matches" as if I am there again in attendence!

Always a positive outlook, a good word , and ultimate entusiasm in every page, Don Fernando is our most genial "tipo cem-por-cento" if you do not know him already from the televison broadcasts!

When I see this book originally, I thought it just the 2006 "guidebook", until I sit for a minute to read it! I could not put it down!

10000000000 stars in the galaxy for this small gift!

A bola é redonda.....who knows WHAT can happen this year's Copa!

I think it my moral and filisofical "enemy" Henry Kissinger who once said futebol is "a little box of surprises", né?

He was dead -on with that statement, and this "little book" really surprised me as I must say it is "essential" for every futebol fan!

To tell the truth, after I bought this book, I went the next day and ordered "Vamos al Mundial", the original 'em espanhol" edition of the book! And now "today is history, tomorrow a mystery. Onward to Copa 2006!

It was nice to read. It has a nice flow. Instead of being the staid and inanimated description of technical and statistical handbooks, the text is really full of life and trivia. It mentions who was sick and who was attempting to bribe, and many trivial facts. Also, it mentions when the yellow and red card were first used, when the Adidas ball was used first. It, however, had some glaring omissions, like not mentioning the plaque at the Atzeca stadium in Mexico City declaring that "here was played the game of the century" for the 1970 semifinal, and surprisingly not mentioning the 18-year old Rivera that did some magic. Given the very animated descriptions of memorable games, I consider this book very valuable for those that want to search for video clips in YouTube, now that many people around the globe are digitizing clips of video for the rest of us to scavenge and watch.

By now the 2006 World Cup has come and gone so this book will not serve the afficionado as well. However, there is enough World Cup trivia and history to make it a good addition to the sports section of your library anyway. Argentina-American Fernando Fiore, the omnipresent sports figure and director on Univision delivered a much needed companion to the biggest and most popular sports spectacle that is The World Cup; futbol (soccers) showcase that comes every four years. The thematic sections of the book are First Half, an introduction to Germany(the host city), Second Half which features a very concise yet adequate overview of the History of The World Cup, chapters include the Birth of the World Cup, The prehistoric Cup, The Ancient Cups, the Modern Cups and The Contemporary Cups, Overtime the thirty-two teams and their stars and section for notes on each match and finally the lastsection entitled The Victory Lap which features the twelve host cities and their stadiums with suggestions on where to go and what to do if you were so fortunate as to have been there. To me as a fan the best part was the breakdown of each team, it's stars etc. and most helpful the grouping and opponents for each match which includes the dates and a sort of scratch section on each game where you can keep track of things about the game like goals scored and quality of the match etc. I loved this part and used it throughout the Copa. I even used it on a remote , boat accessible only little town off the coast of Mexico where we watched the game with the locals at a bar on the beach with a small tv with rabbitt ears!I hope that there is an updated version for 2010 and I would highly recommend it to any fans of futbol or soccer as it is known the U.S.

I like this book as a guide to the world cup, but I think it would be nice to have player names listed, rather than just a team photo. Also, it would be nice if they could list the times at which the games are played, rather than just the date. Otherwise, a very nice guide. I give it only 4 stars due to those two things.

What a fun book! This book was published as a guide to the 2006 World Cup. It gives a history of all the World Cup tournaments that have come before with some emphasis on the exploits and great goals of the South American and Latin American contestants.

The guide has thumbnail sketches on each team involved in the 2006 World Cup and a tourist guide to the German cities that hosted the cup.

What sets this book apart from others in a similar vein is Mr. Fiore's enthusiasm and sense of humor that jumps off of every page. Reading this book is like having a pre-tourney World Cup history lesson from a friend who is a rabid futbol fan.

Post-2006 this is still a great book for anyone who wants to learn what happened in past World Cups and anyone planning a trip to Germany.

I first got hooked on the World Cup in 1994. This book colorfuly filled in the years I had missed. It certainly will make this World Cup much more interesting to watch. I highly recommend it to any fan. I love the diary section. This book will stay forever in my library now!