Title/Author:
“Golazo! The Beautiful
Game from the Aztecs to the World Cup: The Complete History of How Soccer
Shaped Latin America” by Andreas Campomar
Tags:
Soccer, Football
(European/Latin America), history, politics, World Cup
Publish date:
May 6, 2014
Length:
492 pages
Rating:
4 of 5 stars (very
good)
Review:
The history of football (or soccer –
this review will use the term “football”) in South American is not only rich
with exciting players and teams on the pitch, but also colorful on how much it
is intertwined with the politics of the continent’s nations. This book by Andreas Campomar is a complete,
detailed history of the “beautiful game” in that area of the world.
While the title does state that the
book is about football in Latin American, once the ancient history about the
game with the Aztecs is told, football and politics in three South American
nations make up the bulk of the material:
Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. While this would not be completely surprising
as these three nations have won nine World Cup championships among them, the
book does lack material on most of the other nations, with a notable exception
of Chile and Columbia, and practically ignores Central American football. While this can be understood to a degree with
the author being a native of Uruguay, this felt to make the book slightly
incomplete despite its wealth of research and material.
There are times when the reading is
slow and difficult as so many details are crammed into a passage, including
many names of players that only appear once as that person’s last name. When
this was happening, as it especially did when the discussion was about some of
the best years for either Brazil or Argentina, I had to slow down and sometimes
backtrack because I was getting lost.
Readers who are avid fans of these nations’ team or knowledgeable about
the history may not have any trouble with these parts. However, for a fan who either follows the
sport in other parts or the world or is simply a casual fan who wishes to learn
more about these legendary national teams, this might become a challenge.
However, working one’s way through
this is certainly worth the time and effort as the football is rich with
history. The most enjoyable section of the book for me was the description of
how the Aztecs played the game. If
American fans feel today’s game lacks offense, then they wouldn’t want to know
how difficult it was to score at that time.
Other excellent sections of the book include how Uruguay became a soccer
powerhouse in the 1930’s and 1940’s, winning two of the first four World Cup
tourneys and how Brazil’s rise to football power in the 1960's paralleled that of its
government.
Overall , this book is an excellent
source of history on South American football and while at times is a dense and
very detailed read, it is one that is recommended for readers who want to learn
more about not only the game in the continent, but also about the politics of
some of the bigger nations and how they closely related to the success or lack
of success by the national football team.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
No comments:
Post a Comment