Soccer Style


Book Description

Author Simon Doonan has two passions in life: Fashion and Football. At one time these two obsessions would have made very strange bedfellows. But times have changed: football and fashion have fallen in love. The unapologetic and unbridled style choices of today's soccer stars offer a fascinating window into the heart of the game. Looking at the beautiful game through the lens of style, Doonan entertainingly explores the magic and madness of this unique culture. Charting football style from its very beginnings, he pays homage to the great style icons of the game, from George Best to David Beckham, before turning his gaze to the hair, the tattoos and the cars, not to mention those other style icons of the game: the fans, the managers and, of course, the WAGs. A laugh-out-loud read for even the most fickle football fan or fashionista.




Soccer Systems and Strategies


Book Description

Build a successful team around the strengths of your players! In Soccer Systems and Strategies, two coaches of the Danish national team provide a practical guide to implementing the world's top styles of play into your game plan. They present soccer's four primary systems of play--defined by the number of players at each position and their alignment on the field--and then break down the different strategies, tactics, and styles of play that can be used within these systems. First, learn the basics of the four primary systems of play: the 4-3-3, the 4-4-2, the 3-5-2, and the 3-4-3. Second, choose a style of play that can be used within some or all of these systems. These include different attacking styles, various defensive styles, and styles that are characteristic of international soccer powers, including the Latin, British, Norwegian, South American, and African styles of play. After you determine the optimal system and style for your team, you learn how to counter opponents' tactics and how to teach your system, style, and tactics through practice instruction and drills. Detailed diagrams and plans of action for implementing the systems are included, along with insights on how to make adjustments during the game. Top coaches throughout the world have proven that adapting your system to match your players' strengths and your opponents' weaknesses is the key to developing teams that are competitive year in and year out. With Soccer Systems and Strategies, you have all the information you need to implement the ideal system for your team.




The Global Art of Soccer


Book Description




The Aesthetics, Poetics, and Rhetoric of Soccer


Book Description

Soccer has long been known as 'the beautiful game'. This multi-disciplinary volume explores soccer, soccer culture, and the representation of soccer in art, film, and literature, using the critical tools of aesthetics, poetics, and rhetoric. Including international contributions from scholars of philosophy, literary and cultural studies, linguistics, art history, and the creative arts, this book begins by investigating the relationship between beauty and soccer and asks what criteria should be used to judge the sport’s aesthetic value. Covering topics as diverse as humor, national identity, style, celebrity, and social media, its chapters examine the nature of fandom, the role of language, and the significance of soccer in contemporary popular culture. It also discusses what one might call the ‘stylistics’ of soccer, analyzing how players, fans, and commentators communicate on and off the pitch, in the press, on social media, and in wider public discourse. The Aesthetics, Poetics, and Rhetoric of Soccer makes for fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, culture, literature, philosophy, linguistics, and society.




Football


Book Description

"Describes the science behind the sport of football, including offense, defense, special teams, and arenas"--Provided by publisher.




Soccer's Most Wanted™


Book Description

Ernie Brandts of the Netherlands scored a goal for each team and injured his own goalkeeper in a 1978 World Cup match against Italy. Liverpool’s Robbie Fowler was suspended for four games and fined for pretending to snort the white chalk endline while celebrating a goal. In 1970, after El Salvador defeated Honduras in a World Cup qualifying match, the two countries severed diplomatic relations, and a four-day “Soccer War” broke out, in which more than 10,000 people died. A 1995 match in South Africa between the host Moroka Swallows and the Qwa Qwa Stars was delayed after the visiting team accused the host of using magical powers against them. Soccer's Most Wanted™ features the most outrageous players, the oddest injuries, the strangest matches, the most fantastic finishes, the greatest champions, and the most inept teams. In short, it covers the best and worst moments in the history of world soccer. Die-hard fans as well as newcomers to the sport will enjoy this irreverent guide to soccer trivia.




Soccer in a Football World


Book Description

David Beckham’s arrival in Los Angeles represents the latest attempt to jump-start soccer in the United States where, David Wangerin says, it “remains a minority sport.” With the rest of the globe so resolutely attached to the game, why is soccer still mostly dismissed by Americans? Calling himself “a soccer fan born in the wrong country at nearly the wrong time,” Wangerin writes with wit and passion about the sport’s struggle for acceptance in Soccer in a Football World. A Wisconsin native, he traces the fragile history of the game from its early capitulation to gridiron on college campuses to the United States’ impressive performance at the 2002 World Cup. Placing soccer in the context of American sport in general, he chronicles its enduring struggle alongside the country’s more familiar pursuits and recounts the shifting attitudes toward the “foreign” game. His story is one that will enrich the perspective of anyone whose heart beats for the sport, and is curious as to where the game has been in America—and where it might be headed.




Placekicking in the NFL


Book Description

NFL placekicking has an extensive history, from the early days of the dropkick, to the placekick, to kicking barefoot, to soccer style kicking. Each season, approximately 30 percent of all games in pro football are won by field goals. Field goals and extra points account for 20 percent of the league’s yearly total points. This book discusses all aspects of NFL placekicking in historical perspective: the effectiveness of different kicking styles; the use of artificial turf and the development of domed stadiums as they relate to placekicking accuracy; individual kickers who helped to change the way a football is kicked; the mental aspects of the skill, so vital to a kicker’s success; the development of the square-toe kicking shoe used by straight-on kickers to make better contact with the ball; changes in goal posts and the shape of the ball; and the fine points of centering, blocking and holding for the kicker.




Soccer Fundamentals


Book Description

Straightforward and fun, this book presents an understandable approach to learning the correct execution of basic soccer techniques. 125 photos.




Soccer Against the Enemy


Book Description

Soccer is much more than just the most popular game in the world. It is a matter of life and death for millions around the world, an international lingua franca. Simon Kuper traveled to twenty-two countries to discover the sometimes bizarre effect soccer can have on politics and culture. At the same time he tried to discover what makes different countries play a simple game so differently. Kuper meets a remarkable variety of fans along the way, from the East Berliner persecuted by the Stasi for supporting his local team, to the Argentine general with his own views on tactics. He also illuminates the frightening intersection between soccer and politics, particularly in the wake of the attacks of 9-11, where soccer is obsessed over by the likes of Osama bin Laden. The result is one of the world's most acclaimed books on the game, and an astonishing study of soccer and its place in the world.