Soccer in Sun and Shadow

The passion and the glory of the beautiful game, captured on the eve of the World Cup. From the origins of soccer to the World Cup played in the US in 1994, one of Latin America's most fluent and widely read commentators captures the enduring appeal of the world's greatest game. Eduardo Galeano seeks out the mystical and the bewitched, the romance and the emotional destitution experienced by players and fans the world round. Here is a story of love and death: of the suicide of Abdon Porte, who shot himself in the center circle of the National Stadium; of the Argentine manager who wouldn't let his team eat chicken because it would bring bad luck; of the Russian goalkeeper who prepared his min and soothed his nerves with a cigarette and a dash of vodka before each game. Published in the run-up to the 1998 World Cup, this is the glory of soccer in all its international hues, with its multilingual cries of despair, victory and passion. No one who has ever played in or cheered on a soccer side will want to miss this book.