Soccer is cheap. You just need a ball of some sort and you can make up the rest from there. The ball can literally be made of trash or cost a hundred dollars. The game remains the same: the world’s most popular pastime. Finding the Game: Three Years, Twenty-five Countries, and the Search for Pickup Soccer by Gwendolyn Oxenham is about a global journey of four people determined to record soccer at its simplest form. Oxenham and her companions found
Picking Up the Threads: The Colours of World Football by John Chandler is a unique title. It covers an often neglected bit of football nostalgia, the history behind the colors and kit of the world’s most famous teams. It is a must for any football trivia fan, covering more than 150 teams and uniforms. Many soccer historians will tell you about a team’s history, but most will not care to mention their colors or their uniforms. Yet these
Spartak Moscow: A History of the People’s Team in the Worker’s State by Robert Edelman is the definitive history of Russian soccer. It is a complicated history to say the least, but it is also a fascinating one. This academic title is brilliantly written, full of player biographies and match highlights, from all periods of that country’s soccer rollercoaster. It is a story of brilliance amongst tyranny and beauty amongst despair. Spartak represented the best of Russian soccer even though it was far from
Lamar Hunt is a legend among legends, the most decorated man in all of American sports. He was an innovator that brought sporting diversity to America. He created a professional league that would take on the NFL, forcing one of the most incredible mergers in the history of sports. He made professional tennis relevant and saved American soccer twice. Lifetimes of accomplishments could be found in a man that saw work and pleasure as the very same thing. He
PES Brand Manager Tim Blair takes a few minutes to talk to ISN about the newest edition of Pro Evolution Soccer (PES 2013), which is now available in stores. 1. Can you talk about the importance of the having licensing for the Champions League, Europa League, and Copa Libertadores? Licensing is a big deal to the fans of PES. Everyone wants to play with their favorite teams and inside their favorite competitions. The Champions League and the Copa Libertadores represent the largest
This is an incredible year for soccer video games as Konami’s PES 2013 finally makes a run at the always impressive FIFA series from EA Sports. If you have the money, we would wholeheartedly recommend just buying both because you can’t have the full experience of the beautiful game with just one. Each title has its own strengths and unique qualities. We found it hard to find a major weakness in either as both companies have put out a strong,
“Soccer and sportswriting at its best” Can the beautiful game survive in the murder capital of the world? Well Robert Andrew Powell transported his life to Juárez, Mexico to find out as he followed the city’s miracle team, the Indios. The club rose to the first division in one of the biggest surprises in Mexican soccer history. They would come to represent hope and goodwill in a place where the body count never seemed to stop. They gave the fans and citizens
“The beautiful game at its best” In a world of $50 million transfers and players making $100,000 a week, Millwall FC still represents the working class of England. They embody the everyday struggles of their fans and the realities of real life. Millwall is not a star-studded club of millionaires and WAGs, but rather a family of true footballers and fans. Millwall fights for the little guy in a world where the big clubs in the big leagues get all the attention. You won’t
“Truly magnificent and one of a kind” BEING: LIVERPOOL is a masterpiece. What’s not to love? This series takes you inside one of the world’s greatest football clubs. Unprecedented access lets you see the real life of Liverpool’s best, including Brendan Rodgers and Steven Gerrard. You see their most private moments in their homes with their families and their most stressful moments on the pitch. A common statement is that this has been done before, that we have been down the road
