World Cup Soccer is the essential reference book to have for preparing and watching the 2006 tournament in Germany this summer. Everything is here, from the historical perspective to the roster and lineup for each team. The book has the statistics, the groupings, team and player profiles, the venues, and the trivia.
A historical perspective is given with extensive game and round commentary. One chapter recalls the most memorable games in each tournament. Another chapter is devoted to the best and brightest players.
The qualifying rounds of the international soccer competition are summarized, highlighting the pivotal games for each of the 32 qualifying nations. The twelve German venues for the tournament are discussed, assessing the pros and cons of each site.
The centerpiece of the book is an entry for each qualifying team descibing the country, previous appearances and history, qualifying games, key players, player pool, probable lineup and a short discussion of how the team will fare in this competition.
The US team players and coaches are all profiled in one chapter. A second chapter reports and recounts the US team's qualifying efforts game-by-game.
Many interesting features, anecdotes, and trivia on the participating teams are sprinkled throughout the text -- for example, Mussolini was said to have telegrammed the Italian team, "Win or die." They won.
