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Summary: Choice Review, January 1999
Review: "Highly recommended for general readers and undergraduates, and for public school, academic and special sports-related libraries."
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Summary: A poignant, humorous and emotional look at Soccer
Review: A treasured collection of one to three or four page essays examining the history and passion of what everyone else calls football.A tad cynical about the modern game (but you will laugh), a tad nostaglic (but you will sigh warmly). This book made a three hour layover in London "fly" by.
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Summary: Fantastic
Review: Brilliant. Through the first 30 to 40 pages I wasn't convinced and warily read on, but the poignant vignettes and the lyrical flights of wordplay and prose soon grabbed hold. By the end I felt a catharsis but also somewhat depressed: the book is about both the light (the sun) and the dark (the shadow) of soccer, and he is unflinching about the dark side which as a reader you will most certainly feel. But don't worry, he is equally breathtaking regarding soccer's beauty. It was also extremely interesting to get a Latin American perspective on soccer as opposed to the usual Eurocentric one we are used to here in the U.S. A brilliant, subtle, graceful, devastating book which I recommend in the most effusive manner. Let it build and grow on you too. (Even non-soccer fans will enjoy this for some of its beautiful language and wordplay.)
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Summary: A beautiful paean to the game
Review: Definitely for those who have a love for soccer, this little book is a delightful collection of ruminations and rememberances of the game's life, philosophy and spirituality. The story of the referee whose mother died before the game, or Moacyr Barbosa's life long sentence for being scored against in the 1950 World Cup surpass even poignancy to leave no doubt that they must be true. A book to be savored over and over.
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Summary: A delight for the fantatic and the novice alike!!!
Review: Eduardo Galeano has created the ultimate "soccer" book: perfect for both the well versed fan and the reader who knows little about "the beautiful game". The secret is the way that Galeano conveys his deep passion for the sport through short, well crafted stories and reflections. Along the way, we learn not only about "futbol", but about how the game fits into the tapestry of life throughout the majority of the rest of the world. Simply Brilliant!
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Summary: Why it is more than a mere sport.
Review: Football, as many non-North Americans would contend, is more than a sport. Rather,it is grand confluence of ancient animosities: national, ethnic, racial and historical infused with the sheer beauty and infant ecstacy engendered by graceful men and odious villians. Mr.Gaellano brings all of these complexities to the forefront. He has a fine sense for the game as well as the immediate world surrounding it. A superb book for those interested in the universal appeal football. The reader should not be surprised to find mention of Francisco Franco, Pele, Gardel, Maradona and such diverse subjects as German nationalism after World War II, the Biafra war, and Basqque nationalism all vying for the reader's attention.
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Summary: beautiful, read it non--stop
Review: I couldn't put the book down, being South American, much English language books are so heavily biased towards european teams and matches. Nothing against them, I love them as well, and who deosn't love a great game anywhere? But it was nice to read about the formation of modern soccer in England done the way only Galeano could. Followed by the entry of soccer in Buenos Aires and Galeano's soccer world from his childhood days in Uruguay. I guess this defines me well but if I had to take a book to the beach for pleasure reading this would be it, why? The prose, the language, this is THE guy who you'd want to do match-report, if you were the 'man-of-the-match' in the most important game of your life, why? Galeano's word choice is like poetry, that only comes when one makes the sweetest kick ever. It definalty is as a magazine reviewer put it, 'like Pele in a field of second-stringers'.
Rating:
Summary: beautiful, read it non--stop
Review: I couldn't put the book down, being South American, much English language books are so heavily biased towards european teams and matches. Nothing against them, I love them as well, and who deosn't love a great game anywhere? But it was nice to read about the formation of modern soccer in England done the way only Galeano could. Followed by the entry of soccer in Buenos Aires and Galeano's soccer world from his childhood days in Uruguay. I guess this defines me well but if I had to take a book to the beach for pleasure reading this would be it, why? The prose, the language, this is THE guy who you'd want to do match-report, if you were the 'man-of-the-match' in the most important game of your life, why? Galeano's word choice is like poetry, that only comes when one makes the sweetest kick ever. It definalty is as a magazine reviewer put it, 'like Pele in a field of second-stringers'.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting vignettes
Review: I enjoyed this book for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's written from a Latin American standpoint, something not that common in English-language publications about soccer. Secondly, through a large set of short pieces about the game past and present, it effectively portrays the range of emotions that the game evokes in so many people. One gripe: a few of the articles about events that I know about (particularly those about English soccer) have inaccuracies in the names of players and coaches mentioned.
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Summary: Goooooooaaaaalllllll!
Review: I love this book. I've just gone off on a toot with football books after having read Franklin Foer's pretty good recent book, How Soccer Explains the World. Like Foer, I'm a norteno, relatively new to the beautiful game. I latched on to the Clockwork Orange during the 1974 World Cup because I couldn't have the experience of a home team to go nuts about. But I did get the point of the beautiful game. I played a little, gawked at the Cosmos, etc. Well Galeano has it all. Better than Foer, he is borne to the lunacy of football while at the same time being able to express what it's about with elegant language and insight. Read this book when you can't watch a gme on TV. Get ready for a trip with this book. Read it for insight into the craziness of your friends. Know the joy of the wonderful game with penetrating intelligence about its future. Bravissimo!
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