Eight World Cups: My Journey through the Beauty and Dark Side of Soccer

by George Vecsey

"Full of humor and insight about sport and culture.... The pomp, glory, and great entertainment all get their due in Eight World Cups ."— The Boston Globe

Blending witty travelogue with action on the field—and shady dealings in back rooms—George Vecsey offers an eye-opening, globe-trotting account of eight World Cups. He immerses himself in the great national leagues, historic clubs, and devoted fans and provides his up-close impressions of charismatic soccer stars like Sócrates, Maradona, Baggio, and Zidane, while also chronicling the rise of the U.S. men's and women's teams.

Vecsey shows how each host nation has made the World Cup its own, from the all-night street parties in Spain in 1982 to the roar of vuvuzelas in South Africa in 2010, as the game in the stadium is backed up by the game in the street. But the joy is sometimes undermined by those who style themselves the game's protectors.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Soccer, Football, Memoir, History, Travel

389 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 13, 2014

Reviews

[Sean Branson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was somewhat interesting as a US fan, but definitely reads as if written by somebody with only a passing interest in the game. I would recommend the book to casual observers of the World Cup (particularly American) who are interested in reading about how the tournament has evolved.

I also must note, as a fan of DC United since the inception of MLS in 1996, I was struck by the description of Marco Etcheverry as an aging veteran in the 1994 World Cup. In actuality, he was only 23 during the tournament. Based on this oversight, I wonder how many other inaccuracies are in the book?

[Cristian Figueroa · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was searching for a book I saw this book about Soccer World Cup. It is called Eight World Cups by George Vecsey. If you like soccer, I would recommend this book.It’s interesting if you like Soccer and would like to know about the old world cups. The first world cup they tell you in this book is 1982. The world cup is in Spain. This book tells you a lot of detail for the interesting games of the world cups. It tells you about the upsets. Like when Cameroon beat Argentina in 1990. This book tells how how soccer players score goals. Like the “Hand of God” in 1986. The “Hand of God” was when Maradona scored in the finals against Italy in the 1986 World Cup. The book also tells you the “Group of Death”. The “Group of Death is the hardest group of the world cup. This book has a lot of detail in it. In some of the games it tells you the build up of the play.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of the most infuriating books I've ever read. Vecsey has been observing soccer in the U.S. since the 1980s and makes some valuable observations about those thirty years, which is why I give the book a 2 instead of a 1. But the book is rife with factual errors. For instance, he keeps calling the penalty spot the "disk," which is a term that he makes up, he says the U.S. women played a controversial semifinal against Canada in the 2011 World Cup when in fact it was played at the 2012 Olympics, and at one point he mentions that Portugal's appearance in the 2006 World Cup semifinals was their first since 1966 (true), and then two pages later says it was their first ever, period. There are numerous further errors that I could cite. It becomes clear by the midpoint of the book that Vecsey knows much less about soccer than he thinks he does, and that his publisher has horrible fact checkers. Overall this book was a wasted of time.

[John Valdez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed this journey through World Cups 1982 to 2010. George Vecsey, a sports columnist for the New York Times was accustomed to writing about baseball when he got the assignment to cover the 1982 tournament in Spain. The book essentially recaps key games while focusing on some of the notables players such as Maradona, Brazilian Ronaldo, and Zidane.

He addresses the “dark” side of the sport by mainly discussing FIFA’s corruption, particularly as it relates to FIFA awarding the 2022 tournament to Qatar. He briefly touches upon hooligans but reiterates fans attending World Cup matches are not the same that attend league matches.

Part travelogue, Vecsey describes his accommodations in the host country as well as travels to see key games or those involving the US. I would’ve have enjoyed more discussion on the sites and sounds of the tournament such as stadium atmosphere, interviews with fans, and capturing some of the tournament’s pageantry.

He does discuss US soccer in terms of the US women’s success and the evolution of the men’s team when they were nothing but amateurs playing home games at a community college in the 80s to professionals playing in Europe and MLS. He devotes much of the last part of the book to the Klinsmann coached teams as they prepared for Brazil 2014.

I would recommend this book for casual fans of soccer and the World Cup.

[Stan Usher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how I feel about this book to be honest. I gave it 3 stars, as that was as close to 2.5 as I was allowed to rate. A story about the 8 World Cups between 1982 and 2010 from a journalist who covered every one, sounds like it should be a good read for soccer fans in general, but it instead kind of reads like a travel book of someone who has visited the different countries, even going as far as to go on about the best restaurants in each location. Another problem I had was that even though the author says he has a great affinity for the game, he has the very annoying habit of referring to the game in terms of various American sports. Now I get that he is American, and I as a converted American understand well enough, but if you are going to describe the game at least get some of the terminology correct. It is not a penalty disk it is a penalty spot for crying out loud! I enjoyed reading the bits about the different players, the life of Maradona in particular, but there was nothing really great in the book. An average read, hence the 2.5 stars.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are better soccer memoirs out there. No real in-depth reflection. Eight World Cups summarized in 254 pages (pages 255-290 are an appendix, bibliography, and an index)? I know Vecsey is a respected sports journalist but he came across as a typical American sports journalist that "found" soccer. Sure...it seems like he came to appreciate the game but still wrote about it as if it were an assignment. I just think he could have put together a more detailed reflection of seeing eight fricking World Cups. Eight.

[Reading Fool · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Now I'm ready for the 2014 World Cup. I didn't know very much about soccer before I read this book. Vecsey's writing is so descriptive that I can see the plays in my mind as I read about them. His enthusiasm and love for the sport are clear, and I went along his journey with him with joy.

[Chad Post · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice overview of the main events of the past eight world cups, but that's about it. Not particularly insightful, nor are there any really interesting stories. And the writing is pretty pedestrian. Did help get me excited for WC 2014 though . . .

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently, I already read this book. I thought that I might have when I was reading it, but he added the 2014 World Cup which was nice.

[Sheng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eight World Cups: My Journey through the Beauty and Dark Side of Soccer has always been a mainstay at the library I frequent and I never possessed the interest to read it. However, with the 2018 World Cup in Russia only days away now, I decided to finally pick up this book to get into the mood and hype for the biggest football tournament that is about to come.

Before reading Eight World Cups, I was expecting this book to be an account of all the footballing events that surrounded and happened during the past eight World Cups that have taken place in 2014 and earlier. What the book turned out to be was more of a personal account and reflection of author George Vecsey and his relationship with soccer. He talked about his early life and experiences playing soccer in school, along with his journey to watch World Cups as a journalist and with his family. These are all details that I weren't exactly interested to read about.

As a result of a more personal viewpoint for this book, there was a lot of USA-centric content as well because of the nationality of the author. Each World Cup retelling would include the USA's journey in qualifying and how they performed in the World Cup, in addition to the background and development of the domestic league and young players back at home. I was hoping for a more balanced account of the past World Cups with the exploits of more countries detailed but what I got was more of a Team USA history lesson.

Overall, I am a bit disappointed with this book because of a lack of football and World Cup-specific content and an overload of personal and USA history. Still, it was a decent enough retelling of some famous events from the history of football's largest sporting event. 3/5

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the 2014’s edition of Eight World Cups: My Journey through the Beauty and Dark Side of Soccer by the sportswriter George Vecsey. The book covers Vecsey’s career covering World Cup soccer and American soccer from the Men’s World Cup in Spain in 1982 till the Men’s World Cup in South Africa in 2010. A Goodreads reviewer named Simon mentioned that Vecsey’s updated the book to include the 2014 Men’s World Cup in Brazil. Vecsey spends a lot of talking about the United States’ Men National Team development from a lost in World Cup qualifiers to Costa Rica in 1985 in Torrance, California which in the words of Vecsey “a few thousand Costa Ricans could outroot four times as many Americans” till the era of the Jürgen Klinsmann as the coach of the American side and qualifying for the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. I wished he spent more time on the American Women’s National Team. He only spends to two chapters on the American women’s team, one on the 1996 Gold Medal team in the Atlanta Olympics and the other when the American women won the World Cup when the United States hosted in 1999. Vecsey's Eight World Cup is a good introduction to the recent history of the Men’s World Cup from the point of the American sportswriter.

[Jameson E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vecsey started covering soccer as a NY Times journo in the early 80s because he drew the short straw. If he was a better writer, he would’ve been covering more popular news. The only reason this book was published was because he wrote for the NY Times and the Times published it to make some money during the lead up to the 2014 World Cup. I feel bad for the soccer literate readers of NYC from 1980-present who’ve had this writing as their main source of information for the beautiful game. I’m glad I witnessed the 1994-1998-2002-2006-2010 World Cup tournaments with my own eyes because the summaries of each tournament are so bland and dry you’d probably believe soccer is what many Americans believed it was up until the last decade or so... a bland and dry sport. By far the poorest soccer book I’ve ever read.

[Leon Bhagawanta · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest this book is okay ish and I can read it until it is finished. I feel that this book is interesting especially to give the reader about the development of US Soccer and their process toward the World Cup. This book also covers the World Cup itself from Vecsey perspective as a soccer journalist.

Vecsey tells us about his experience in a very good way of storytelling. His experience in every host of the World Cup and the process of watching the game.

For football/soccer fans, this book can give a new perspective for this great sport especially from a country that tries to develop their soccer.

I like how Vecsey describes several top star players like Maradona or Zidane. The description by Vecsey really pictured them as the great figure in the football world.

[Marty Greenwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book but no Miracle of Castel..Liked the way it started when the author was a student attempting to make a team in Queens in HS and reverted at the end back to that school watching what the current 2014 players could do that they couldn't. How he went to pubs where ethnic contingencies watched their home nations through triumph or defeat. The "inside" of the Maradonas or Zidanes. I finished this the morning of the first real day of World Cup 2018 hosted in Russia. LIked the way he made FIFA out as a corrupt organization. How could Qatar get the 2022 World Cup with no soccer and a temp of 100+ degrees without corruption?

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to give this book 5 stars since it involves 2 of my favorite things: international soccer and world travel. It was an enjoyable read, but some parts of the book seemed to have some lazy and/or repetitive writing, as well as some incorrect facts. Worth the read, just not an outstanding 5-star book for a topic that had a lot of potential.

[Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brisk read through the thirty or forty years of World Cup soccer before 2014 from someone who was in-country to report on all of them. The author is a soccer fan but not an analyst or tactician or historian, so don't expect an exhaustive account of the tournaments, but it's a leisurely read that brings back memories.

[Luke Scarano · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was enjoyable to hear the perspective of someone who had been to some world cups before my time. However, I was frustrated with Vescey’s more casual ball knowledge. It would have been more engaging to see the perspective of someone who was a greater fan of the sport.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written personal history of World Cup events by a NYT journalist. The cuture, politics, tactical and technical aspects are described in a flowing narrative.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight into past World Cups! Does read like a combination of travel diary and match play-by-plays but it was enjoyable to hear his specific experiences at each cup location.

[Matt Lawhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for any soccer fan. Brings back a ton of memories of U.S. soccer in World Cups and reminders of all the great names of the past. Really well written.

[Madeleine · Rating 5 out of 5]

So long as you start the book knowing that this isn't a comprehensive summary of 8 world cups but rather one journalist's experience and aren't snobbish about american soccer, I think most soccer fans would enjoy this book. Personally, I loved it and learned a lot American league soccer and the world cup. Just over a year til 2018!

[Mac Bechtol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. Vecsey is an entertaining writer and I found it all very interesting!

[Leif · Rating 2 out of 5]

Functionally, this is an American-centred memoir of men's international soccer, with occasional dashes of American women's international soccer and a consistent, if minor, flavouring of more broadly international events in international soccer. Much emerges from Vecsey's personal reminiscences and it shows: interesting events are skipped, factual data are distorted, and minor events are elevated to strange magnitudes.

Honestly, while this is a decent enough guide to world soccer, it's just not very exciting, nor is it illustrative of the broad range that soccer extends across the globe. I'd skip it unless you're both quite new and quite interested in the American perspective on historical World Cups.

[Matt Zar-Lieberman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Eight World Cups, New York Times sportswriter George Vecsey reflects upon over twenty years of covering soccer's biggest event. Vecsey has spent over four decades writing for The Grey Lady and wrote the "Sports of the Times" column from 1982 through 2011, which largely focused on the broader off-field impacts and aspects of athletics. His new book offers a very personal account of covering the World Cup and his experiences following legendary teams and players such as Diego Maradona and Socrates. It is an intelligently-written recent history of the World Cup and while it is likely to tread upon some familiar territory for most readers, it is still a worthwhile pickup for soccer fans and those interested in the international phenomenon of the event.

Eight World Cups is largely structured chronologically with Vecsey describing highlights from the 1982 World Cup onwards. The book is largely a personal recounting of Vecsey's experiences at various World Cups rather than a broad overview of the events. Due to some fundamental laws of physics, he wasn't able to be at every game and he had to be selective in what games he attended. I found this "limitation" to help prevent the book from becoming a collection of basic summaries of each World Cup. He often becomes attached to certain teams and cities and tries to catch as many of their games as possible. Additionally, he generally chooses well (i.e. interesting/good teams with interesting/good players) and its not like the reader is ever mired in absurdly detailed descriptions of the rather inept Greece team in 1994 or something. Vecsey shares personal encounters with English hooligans and other fans, interviews with players and referees and anecdotes about the culture and quirks of the hosting countries. He strikes a very nice balance between describing the games themselves as well as off-field issues such as refereeing, the treatment of players, and the murky internal politics of FIFA. Writing for an American newspaper, Vecsey pays a good bit of attention to the American squads as well. He also weaves the history of the U.S. National Men's and Women's teams between the World Cup chapters and their remarkable evolution since he started covering the sport.


Vecsey is a gifted writer who describes the matches with lyrical and detailed prose that showcases his knowledge and passion for the sport. I especially enjoyed the chapters on the earlier World Cups that I was much less familiar with. His recollections of more recent events contained fewer new insights as they covered events I was already pretty familiar due to the humongous amount of press coverage and scrutiny garnered by the World Cup. I still enjoyed these portions, just not as much as those that preceded them.

In Sum
A recommended read for soccer fans looking for a fun read with some intellectual heft. Die-hard soccer fans well-versed in the history of the sport may not find that many new insights, but casual fans and those just interested in the spectacle of the World Cup should pick up Eight World Cups.

7/10

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up a copy of this book just after the start of the 2014 World Cup. I'm a novice soccer fan with no specific allegiances, but I've enjoyed watching what I could of the last two competitions in 2006 and 2010. I thought that, aside from educating me in the recent history of the world's most popular sport, reading this would get me excited for the tournament. Vecsey's book taught me a lot about the game, and watching this year's World Cup has been more enjoyable for me as a result.

The author takes turns describing his personal connection to soccer, and traces the history of the United States men's and women's teams alongside tales of his experiences at each tournament since 1982. Vecsey does an excellent job of describing his travels and adventures around the world in each of the years of Cup competition. While I had some difficulty keeping up with the names of players, coaches, and soccer figures from around the world, simply because of my limited knowledge of soccer history, it was still fun to read about him zipping around Germany during the 2006 competition, and about him meeting an English hooligan in Italy in 1990.

Two of the later chapters in the book deal with corruption in FIFA, world soccer's governing body, as well as with the emergence of the United States as an influential power in the sport. I particularly enjoyed the background that Vecsey shared on the development of the 2014 U.S. team, and their new coach, Jurgen Klinsmann.

While it may not bother everyone that reads the book, I was somewhat turned off by Vecsey's bizarre insertions of commentaries on American politics. I'm not sure how his criticism of the Tea Party fits in with international soccer history, but he must have felt like he needed to include his remarks for some reason--what that was, I'm not sure.

Still, the book is very enjoyable, and I recommend it in particular to anyone like me, who has a limited background in the sport, but who is eager to learn more.

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, so somebody said, "You've been to eight World Cups? Man, you should write a book!"

And so he did. Problem is, he found a way to write a book with no great anecdotes, no behind-the-scenes insight, no nothing but a recitation of what he did during eight World Cups. I guess I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 because It is, after all, about eight World Cups.

I really wanted to like this book, and kept going because I was convinced it HAD to get better, but it is simply paragraph after paragraph like this:

“On July 2, I watched the tube as the Netherlands eliminated Brazil in a quarterfinal match. Then I covered the Uruguay-Ghana match, when Luis Suárez of Uruguay blatantly swatted away a goal during extra time. As punishment for the handball, Suárez would have to miss the next match, but that seemed like a fair exchange after Asamoah Gyan, who had scored the winning goal against the United States, banged the penalty kick off the crossbar. Uruguay won in penalty kicks, and the Ghana players cried as they left the field.”

And a memorable, off-field interaction:

“I hated to leave Durban, particularly upon checking out with the same chatty Indian clerks who had greeted us three nights before.

“I’m going to miss you,” I said.

“Well, why don’t you take us with you?” one of the clerks said.

I love the saucy Indian sense of humor.

“If only we could…,” I said.”

Finally, this book used the phrase "And then... And then... And then" like a kindergartener explaining a three-ring circus, or like he had a deadline approaching and didn't have the time, energy, or interest to explain or think of any transitions. As for my ultimate criticism, I cringe to say -- and I would feel badly if he ever reads this, but it was an expensive little bugger, so he's laughing all the way to the bank -- that I actually read some paragraphs aloud to my wife, who thought it was hilarious.

[֍ elle ֍ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serviceable. Brief and not particularly enlightening, the best you can say about it is that, like the players the author idolizes, it never gets bogged down. It skims through the world's largest sporting event, giving you barely a taste of history before unloading the final match on you. And all the reviews that say it reads like it's written an American? That charge may sound like a stupid accusation given that the author is, in fact, American, but it's a charge that I found extremely valid in evaluating the author's approach to the sport. And that's for better or for worse. At its best, it gives you (the reader) a rare and unbiased look at FIFA. Well, relatively unbiased. At worst, itt lacks the vehement, visceral, day-to-day passion of people born in soccer countries. Also, there's a lot of references to pretty girls that may have supposed to portray the author as a "red-blooded American", but instead came off like that old creeper who leers at pretty girls while his wife tries desperately to pretend like she doesn't notice. It was uncomfortable (for me, at least) and often dropped in out of nowhere. So that left me with a bad taste in my mouth often enough that my opinion of the author probably suffered as s result (and therefore consequentially, my opinion also of his book).

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read, considering the Round of 16 in Brazil is about to start. It wasn't particularly in-depth, but Vecsey's "soccer memory" (as he refers to it at one point) is longer than mine. I appreciated the first half of the book, where he recounts tournaments I wasn't alive for/too young to remember. The later half was a good nostalgic read. I did like that he also spent time on the women's tournaments, not just the men's world cup that this book was clearly timed for. But like others have said, Vecsey is awfully light on details, considering he's been a sports journalist for fifty-some years. He has spent most of his career covering baseball, so maybe this brevity is to be expected. (Or maybe it's to be expected because brevity was the only way to get the book finished in time to be released just prior to the World Cup.)

[C.J. Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish this book had been titled 'Nine World Cups,' and I was reading it in February 2015, after just watching all of the fabulous 2014 Brazil World Cup. Maybe Vecsey will write that book too? This is a nice little memoir/travel book not so much about the games, but the entire World Cup experiences that Vecsey has had covering soccer for the NY Times over the years. The book also covers the corruption of FIFA, even though it only skims the surface. The total story would make a terrific book in itself. Some may be put off by Vecsey's cosmopolitan style of writing, but I enjoyed it. George Vecsey came to love soccer later in life like many American soccer fans do and the book is written from that perspective. It's never to late become a fan of 'o jogo bonito' (the beautiful game).

[Lex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only mentions the Dutch team in 3 sentences despite finishing second 3 times in history, not to mention holding the record for playing the most World Cup finals without ever winning the tournament. This writer is very partial to Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Germany (ie the powerhouses) and of course, the US. He says in one sentence that the Dutch beat Brazil in the 2010 World Cup like it was no big deal. At the end he "hopes" to see the Dutch and Spain for 2010 and his wish comes true. This book goes into the good and bad of the World Cup, like it says. There is definitely some personal anecdotes mixed in. I guess it's hard not to be biased in sports. At least there could have been a little less Diego Maradona.