A History of Soccer in Six Matches

The book recommendations keep coming, many of them expanding into Spanish: Eduardo Galeano’s “Football in Sun and Shadow” came up a lot, and there has been plenty of love for the works of Roberto Fontanarrosa, Juan Villoro and Eduardo Sacheri, too. I’ve read Galeano, but will explore the others.

Several readers, including Daniel Frost, mentioned Amy Bass’s “One Goal”; Terry Pitts was among those who reminded me of David Peace’s soccer novels, “Red or Dead” and “The Damned United.” I found the latter more compelling than the former. The one that really intrigued me, though, was a book by J.L. Carr called “How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won The F.A. Cup.” I had to double check it wasn’t a joke, from both Mark Farrer and David Stevens. It seems it isn’t. It’s being airdropped into an online order as we speak.

The best email, though, came from Michael Pecht, recommending “The Replay,” by the Irish writer Michael Curtin. “It is about a challenge to replay a soccer match between two rival local squads 15 years after their original face-off,” he wrote. “It is also a masterpiece about love and marriage. So in that respect it is a lot like ‘Madame Bovary.’” Except better, I presume, because “Madame Bovary” lacks goalmouth action.

My other achievement this week: finishing “The English Game” on Netflix. I would recommend it, with a couple caveats: I am a bit of a sucker for rom-com level romance; the dialogue is, frankly, remarkable; if you like subtle, arch subtext, you may find it a bit, well, sledgehammer. But it is fun. And, at times like these, fun is good.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/sports/soccer/soccer-history-rory-smith.html