A recent addition to Soccer America’s collection of books recommended by staff, friends and interviewees revisits the glory days of the NASL’s New York Cosmos. From Ian Plenderleith‘s review of I’m With the Cosmos: The Story of Steve Hunt By Steve Hunt with Ian McCauley: English winger Steve Hunt was among several young players to […]
reviews
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
Pele, the brutal dictator, and the 1970 World Cup
Review: “Pelé” (Pitch Productions, streaming on Netflix) * * * * * * * * * * What does Pelé have in common with the Beatles? They are both mass cultural phenomena, huge in the 60s. They’re both the greatest in their field, you could argue. And the release of yet another book or movie […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
'I'm With the Cosmos: The Story of Steve Hunt': English winger reflects on his days with Pele and Co.
I’m With the Cosmos: The Story of Steve Hunt By Steve Hunt with Ian McCauley (Pitch Publishing) * * * * * * * * * * English winger Steve Hunt was among several young players to counter the notion that the North American Soccer League was a place where diminishing stars of the 1970s […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
2020 rewind: Silent stadiums and hot debates on anthems, coaching, soccer's rules and urgently needed reform
As a columnist, it can be a difficult proposition knowing how to retain your readership’s interest. Few writers want to click on the comments column and find themselves vilified in public. It can also be a sobering moment when you see there are no replies at all. Best of all is when an article acts […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
2020 Soccer Books: SA Library holiday gift ideas
These soccer books published in 2020 cover several parts the international game, American women’s soccer, and coaching advice beyond the Xs and Os. * * * * * * * * * * The Game by Stuart Roy Clarke with John Williams (Relegation Books Hardcover) Review: A handsome and charming book: ‘The Game’ vividly celebrates British soccer’s […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
Wise and witty 'Farther Corner' takes us back to England's Northeast
The Farther Corner: A Sentimental Return to North-East Football (Simon & Schuster) * * * * * * * * * * A couple of years back some old school friends from England came to visit me in Germany. We arranged to meet up in the fine city of Düsseldorf, and I was charged with the […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
Black player history in England: Who broke through first at the 92 clubs and the prejudice they had to overcome
“Football’s Black Pioneers: The Stories of the First Black Players to Represent the 92 League Clubs” by Bill Hern & David Gleave (Conker Editions) * * * * * * * * * * “This book is a reminder of how things once were, and a stark warning that we must never return to those […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
'Blood and Circuses' delves into the post-communist chaos of eastern European soccer
“Blood and Circuses: A Football Journey Through Europe’s Rebel Republics” by Robert O’Connor (Biteback Publishing) * * * * * * * * * * When the Soviet Union, its republics and its satellite states all succumbed to capitalism in the early 1990s, few were sorry to see the back of dictatorship, chronic corruption, environmental […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
A handsome and charming book: 'The Game' vividly celebrates British soccer's glorious tradition
Sure, the world’s game has been played on these shores going back to the 19th century, and there’s a trove of tales, too many untold, guiding our evolution from the ethnic enclaves that housed the game not so long ago to the post-1994 reality of biggish money (sort of), bigger stars (a few of them), […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
There's plenty to learn about American soccer in the 1970s from Bill Gazonas' inspirational story
The first team I ever covered for Soccer America I never actually saw play. I started subscribing to Soccer America in 1973 — the first issue I ever received was the College Preview — when I enrolled at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. In those days, Soccer America was still developing its network of […]