The story of the U.S. women's soccer team and their rise from a virtually unnoticed group of young women athletes to the champions of the 1999 Women's World Cup includes profiles of top players.

"Soccer is a perfect window into the crosscurrents of today's world ... Franklin Foer takes us on a tour through the world of soccer, shattering the myths of our new global age along the way"--jacket.

For nine days twelve young soccer players and their coach were confined in the dark by rising waters in the caverns of Tham Luang in Chang Rai, Thailand. With no food or drinking water except the condensation found on the cave walls, their survival seemed unlikely. Yet against the odds, a team of determined divers traversed monsoon floodwaters and narrow passageways to find Coach Ek, a stateless orphan devoted to Buddhism, and his young players alive...

Provides an introduction to the sport of soccer, including what is needed to play, basic rules of the game, how goals are scored, and how players can be good sports.

'Correia takes us around the world to examine how soccer has produced the kind of political energy that can change minds and even topple governments' Dave Zirin, Sports Editor, The Nation 'A fascinating journey through the game's history [as] a vehicle of change' Shaka Hislop, former player, anti-racist educator and broadcaster 'An essential read for soccer fans everywhere' Juliet Jacques, writer, filmmaker and journalist Soccer is so much more...

At turns lyrical, ironic, and sympathetic, Mario Filho's chronicle of "the beautiful game" is a classic of Brazilian sports writing. Filho (1908-1966)-a famous Brazilian journalist after whom Rio's Maracana stadium is officially named-tells the Brazilian soccer story as a boundary-busting one of race relations, popular culture, and national identity. Now in English for the first time, the book highlights national debates about the inclusion of African-descended...

The people of Brazil celebrated when it was announced that they were hosting the World Cup-the world's most-viewed athletic tournament-in 2014 and the 2016 Summer Olympics. But as the events were approaching, ordinary Brazilians were holding the country's biggest protest marches in decades. Sports journalist Dave Zirin traveled to Brazil to find out why. In a rollicking read that travels from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to the fabled Maracanã...