Chasing the Game

The U. S. mens soccer team was a huge disappointment at the World Cup in 2006, but a newly constituted team exceeded all expectations in June 2009 with their inspired play at the Confederations Cup in South Africawhere they upset the number one team in the world, Spain, and lost late in the championship game to a supremely talented Brazilian squad. Their impressive showing gave fans, including the ever-loyal Sams Army, a renewed sense of hope that when the team plays up to its capabilities, the Americans can compete with anyone in the world. In Chasing the Game, Filip Bondy describes the U. S. teams path to qualifying for this years World Cupto be held on the African continent for the first time ever, in South Africa in June 2010. Bondy also reveals the back-and-forth saga that resulted in the hiring of Bob Bradley as the American coach, and serves up engaging profiles of several core players, including the U. S. national teams all-time leader in scoring and assists, Landon Donovan, acrobatic goalie Tim Howard, hip-hop devotee and opportunistic goal-scorer Clint Deuce Dempsey, up-and-comer Jozy Altidore, and the coachs son, the reticent yet dependable Michael Bradley.
Chasing the Game also recounts the glorious highlights of past World Cup matches, like the U. S. mens teams stunning 10 victory over England in 1950 and the 2002 teams advance to the quarterfinals, as well as heartbreaks like the fiasco in 2006, when the U. S. mustered only four shots on goal in three games. Finally, Bondy also traces the origin of soccer and the evolution of the game in the U. S. , chronicling how soccer academies like the one in Bradenton, Florida, have impacted the game at both the youth and national levels. Its all here for the first time in one bookthe complete story of American soccer on the global stage.