Eight World Cups

Blending witty travelogue with action on the field - and shady dealings in the back rooms - Vecsey offers an eye-opening, globetrotting account of the last eight World Cups, chronicling the United States team's slow, episodic rise while evidence of corruption grows in the sport's executive suites. Vecsey immerses himself in the great national leagues, historic clubs, devoted fans, and passionate rivalries and gives us his up-close impressions of charismatic stars like Socrates, Maradona, Baggio, Zidane, and Klinsmann-plus Mia Hamm and the American champions of 1999. From his first exposure to the all-night street parties in Barcelona during the 1982 World Cup, Vecsey describes proud nations during their turns as hosts, right up to the roar of vuvuzelas in South Africa in 2010. He discovers that the game in the stadium is backed up by the game in the street, but the joy is sometimes undermined by those who style themselves its protectors, many of them eventually disgraced. With his characteristic sharp reporting and eye for detail, Vecsey brings this global event to vivid life, a perfect companion for fans in time for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil