A veteran sports commentator shares the hard-nosed, insider
machinations of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. A Chicago-based columnist
and analyst for Fox Soccer Channel, Trecker got his first taste of
World Cup fever at the 2002 games co-hosted (for the first time) by
political rivals South Korea and Japan, in which the United States
surprisingly progressed to the quarterfinals. Four years later, the
author found himself in the commerce-driven German city of Leipzig,
witnessing a rather lackluster team-placement ceremony at the start
of a commissioned four-week tour of Germany for the 2006 World Cup.
Finely balancing his personal experiences with comprehensive
historical detail, and a generous supply of factoid footnotes,
Trecker begins with the basics, explaining that the games are the
end result of four years of carefully tracked worldwide
competitions wherein 210 nations vie for 32 coveted placement
slots. He ponders the controversial host-city selection process and
profiles such better known team managers as suave, seasoned veteran
"Bora" Milutinovic from Serbia and Wayne Rooney, pride of the
Manchester team and polar opposite of "remote tabloid figure" David
Beckham. A guaranteed cash cow, the World Cup event was positioned
by Germany as "the biggest sales event the planet had ever seen,"
even as that country continued to struggle with spiking
unemployment rates and the residual shock of Eastern bloc
unification. Trecker traveled to Hamburg, the United States's
home-base city; Munich, where he unexpectedly was housed in the gay
district surrounded by Asian-staffed brothels and adult novelty
shops peddling "World Cup - branded sex toys"; and onward to a
spontaneous pub crawl in Frankfurt with the ever-thirsty English
fans. Two weeks into the tournament, however, the author fell
seriously ill, delaying his coverage (and the publication of this
book). He recovered in time to witness the championship game, in
which a game-altering headbutt would send 350-million spectators
into a historic frenzy. A devoted and comprehensive tour guide,
Trecker delivers the goods with gusto. (Kirkus Reviews)
Every four years the thirty-two-team, sixty-four-game World Cup
captivates the planet's populace for a month. Work absenteeism
skyrockets. Political campaigns grind to a halt. Fans mortgage
their houses to buy tickets. And teams employ every means possible
- even consulting witch doctors and astrologers - in their quest
for national glory.Veteran soccer commentator Jamie Trecker
travelled to Germany for FIFA World Cup 2006. Here, reported from
the restaurants, trains, bars, town squares, hostels, press boxes,
and brothels, is his unvarnished account of the games and parties,
great plays and fistfights, gossip and tacky souvenirs that turn
the largest sporting event on earth into a true world bazaar. With
equal measures insight and irreverence, Trecker captures the
passion, politics, controversies, and economics that make soccer a
reflection of the world.
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