Interesting concepts, but a boring read.

buku yg sgt entertaining apalagi buat penggemar olahraga yg satu ini. banyak fakta2 menarik yg dikemas cukup apik. kalau barca itu sebutannya 'mas que un club', maka sepakbola itu 'mas que un sport'. learn football and you learn the world :D

If I cared about soccer even a small bit, this certainly would have been more enjoyable.

An educational look at several cultures viewed through the lens of the soccer teams/business/fans of those areas. A little simplified, but what sweeping survey style book is not?

Just finished a highly entertaining book about how soccer incorporates aspects of globalization. From Nigerians in Ukraine, to an English team without a single royal subject in its lineup, from sectarian strife in Scotland, to the nationalist Catalans, this book gives the history of some of football's most impressive clubs and explains how politics, economics, media, culture are all influenced by the passion for the beautiful game.

I had no idea football was so intertwined in so many cultures. It's practically a secular religion, and it's a powerful, powerful force.

Of particular enjoyment was the final chapter about how soccer explains America's "Culture Wars".

Saya ini orang awam dalam sepakbola, karena itu buku ini musti menarik.

Membaca buku ini tentu dari depan, ya, bagian pengantar. Lanjut Bab 1, Bab2... mulai deg2an... Bab3... makin deg2an, tercengang, terperangah... baru tahu nih... ya ampun... ya ampuuun... ooh... gitu ya?... aaaah.... tidak... jangan sampai!!!... amit2... adduuuh, kalau ternyata juga.... kalau benar begitu, gimana nih...???? aaahh... takuuut!!!!

Ampoooooonnn!!!

Lalu saya tutup dulu waktu Angus sambil mabuk berbisik pada Frank tentang sepatu bertaji Alan Harrison: "Tapi memangnya kapan terakhir dia menendang orang?".

Tutup buku. Untuk kembali membuka Daftar Isi yang tadi terlewat. Yah, lumayan, cooling down dulu, ada Bab9, lalu Bab10.

Setelah dunia kembali optimis, dan tertawa karena suporter timnas AS tidak punya kaus merah timnas mereka, berduyun2lah mereka menghadiri babak kualifikasi Piala Dunia melawan Honduras dengan mengenakan seragam merah Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool, atau Barcelona :)

Baru saya lanjutkan baca Bab4, 5, 6, 7, 8... dan bab9 serta 10 lagi.

Dan reviewnya belum akan ditulis :p

Solid book with some excellent observations on how nations and their love of soccer move us towards Globalization.

I came to this book with the enormous benefit of 18 years of hindsight from which to criticize or challenge some of the suppositions within. And while I tried—I really did—to look at the book as a product of its time, it was difficult for me to dismiss "what I know now" in favor of "what I think I knew then".

With that in mind, I think Foer did a good job of intriguing me on several of the stories described. The Jewish soccer team in Austria before the second World War. The relationship between the shah's family and soccer in Iran before the Revolution. Serbian paramilitaries that grew out of supporters groups. Each of these had me deep in a Wikipedia hole within a few minutes of finishing the chapter, which has always been a sure sign that the author has gotten my attention.

But the stories that were more contemporary felt less compelling, perhaps because, again, I have the benefit of an additional 18 years. Foer offered a caveat of his own fandom of Barcelona on more than one occasion, but it felt throughout the chapter as though he wasn't treating Barcelona's "galactico" ambitions with the same disdain as he did Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Juventus. The chapter on American politics and their relationship with soccer likewise felt incomplete, as though there wasn't quite enough information for a full-fledged chapter. Using Jim Rome as an example of right-wing xenophobia of soccer: not a problem. Claiming there are similar left-wing anti-soccer figureheads without offering a concrete example: a problem.

All in all, I'm glad I read it, though I think the title is a bit of a misnomer. It's not so much how soccer explains the world, merely how some phenomena of the past hundred years have analogues in the soccer world. I imagine a similar book could be written about incidents from any popular sport in that time.

Probably 3.5 stars--a quick and dirty read involving cultural criticism thru the lens of soccer, which is not the cleanest and most insightful lens available. That said, I blew thru this book and enjoyed it quite a bit if for no other reasons than its success in making me much more sympathetic to Barca and that Foer was calling for the US to stay the hell out of the middle east reformation business in 2004, which was surprising and smart from a dude traveling around the world, marrying geopolitics with soccer teams.