Bibliography

At the suggestion of Anson Dorrance –- soccer philosopher, author, and laurelled Head Coach of the University of North Carolina Women’s Team. The following is a list of books for anyone seeking broader insights into the sport. While by no means all-inclusive, these 25 titles are essential to any club’s in-house soccer library:

1. Soccer In Sun and Shadow, by Eduardo Galeano; Verso, 1998, 1999, 2003.
   The best book ever written about soccer; a gift to posterity. “Stands out like Pele on a field of second-stringers,” says The New Yorker.
2. The Girls of Summer: The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team and How It Changed The World, by Jere Longman; HarperCollins, 2000.
   The best soccer book ever written by an American; riveting stuff from one of the great sports reporters at the New York Times.
3. Football Against The Enemy, by Simon Kuper; Phoenix Books, 1994.
   A red-eye flight through 22 countries that exposes the bitter roots of soccer’s most enduring rivalries and explains why no two countries play the game quite the same.
4. Fever Pitch, by Nick Hornby; Riverhead Books, 1994.
   One man’s hysterical obsession with Arsenal F.C., and how it nearly ruined him.
5. Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer, by David Winner; Overlook Press, 2002.
   A nimble discourse on the Dutch mind and method, and how the National Team revolutionized the sport in the 1970s. Among the very best of the “new wave” books.
6. Futebol: Soccer, The Brazilian Way, by Alex Bellos; Bloomsbury, 2002.
   The history, philosophy and cultural imperatives that made the Brazilians the most inspired and misunderstood players on earth.
7. The World’s Game: a History of Soccer, by Bill Murray; Univ. of Illinois Press, 1998.
   Invaluable for anyone who wants to know how soccer came to cover the globe.
8. Among The Thugs, by Bill Buford; Vintage Books, 1990.
   Buford goes inside a hooligan crew to show how deep-seated racial, religious and class antagonism spawned one of the most reviled phenomena in the world of sports.
9. How Soccer Explains The World: an Unlikely Theory of Globalization, by Franklin
   Foer; HarperCollins, 2004.
   The title is a mouthful, but this diary of Foer’s travels to hotspots around the world demonstrates that soccer has become the crossroad of modern politics and commerce.
10. SoccerTalk: Life Under The Spell of the Rounder Ball, by Paul Gardner; Masters Press, 1999.
    A collection of the best essays by the emeritus dean of U.S. soccer writers, curmudgeon-in-residence of Soccer America magazine, Paul Gardner.
11. Playing For Uncle Sam: The Brit’s Story of the North American Soccer League, by David Tossell; Mainstream Publishing, 2003.
    An inside look into what writer Roger Allaway has called “the most spectacular attempt ever made to establish a professional soccer league in the United States.”
12. The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro, by Joe McGinniss; Broadway Books, 1999.
    One of the funkiest and most fully realized anthro-psycho-sociological examinations of the game to date. An American abroad develops a fixation on Italian minor league soccer in this screw-loose travelogue of the Italian hinterlands.
13. Dynamo: Triumph and Tragedy in Nazi Occupied Kiev, by Andy Dougan; Lyons Press, 2001.
    An achingly beautiful narrative about the greatest soccer team on the European continent and how it offered hope to a battered nation during wartime.
14. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Soccer, edited by Keir Radnedge; Carlton Books, 1994 (and updated annually ever since).
    -- Lush photography, intriguing graphics, and some pretty zippy writing on the state of world soccer.
15. The American Encyclopedia of Soccer, edited by Zander Hollander; Everest House, 1980.
    Long out of print, but generally available on-line; sharply written essays on the history of the game give way to an exhaustive accounting of the rise of U.S. collegiate soccer from the 19th Century forward. Essential reading.
16. The Encyclopedia of American Soccer History, by Allaway, Jose and Litterer; Scarecrow Press, 2001.
    The single most authoritative history of American soccer ever written. All the teams, players, leagues, cup winners, and epochs in U.S. soccer in one place. Covers just about everything that isn’t covered in Hollander’s book (above).
17. World Soccer Yearbook, edited by Atkinson and Hynes; Dorling Kindersley, 2002.
    A sumptuous English annual that describes the worldwide game like no other.
18. Offside: Soccer & American Exceptionalism, by Markovits & Hellerman; Princeton Univ. Press, 2001.
    A wry academic treatise on the rise of U.S. professional sports during the 20th Century, and why soccer failed to find a niche. Voluminously researched and absolutely definitive; a must-read for any serious American sports fan.
19. Vision of a Champion: Advice and Inspiration From The World’s Most Successful Women’s Soccer Coach, by Anson Dorrance and Goria Averbuch; Sleeping Bear Press, 2002.
    Both a meditation on excellence and a user’s manual to the game. Takes readers on a journey from youth league, up through the club system, onto the high school practice field and finally into the “competitive cauldron” of a collegiate tryout. A must-read for any parent of a kid who has serious athletic aspirations.
20. Catch Them Being Good: Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Coach Girls, by Tony DiCicco; Penguin Books, 2002.
    The mastermind of the 1999 U.S. Women’s National Team victory in the World Cup delivers a clinic on “new school” coaching that is applicable to every age, gender and sport. Full of insights into the psychology of young athletes.
21. Principles of Modern Soccer, by George Beim; Houghton Mifflin, 1977.
    Find it. Buy it. Consume it. A classic tutorial on the origins of the world’s best-known tactical formations, styles of play, training methods and coaching practices. Not “light reading,” but brimming with the wisdom of the ages.
22. Captain For Life: and Other Temporary Assignments, by John Harkes and Denise Kiernan; Sleeping Bear Press, 1999.
    The autobiography of the greatest American male player of his era. Mercifully free of fluff or puffery, it’s just a Jersey boy telling his story. A fun read.
23. It’s Not About The Bra: How to Play Hard, Play Fair and Put The Fun Back Into Competitive Sports, by Brandi Chastain; HarperCollins, 2004.
    A plea for sanity in youth sports and a return to the values that helped Chastain become one of the most recognized women athletes on the planet.
24. Go For The Goal: A Champion’s Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life, by Mia Hamm; HarperCollins, 2000.
    A National Bestseller, and not for no reason. Mia so rarely speaks that fans will hang on every word.
25. My Favourite Year: A Collection of New Football Writing, edited by Nick Hornby; 2002.
    The author of “Fever Pitch” knows his game, and he knows good writing. Here, some of Hornby’s favorites ruminate about the agony and ecstasy of soccer as personal obsession.