Love & Blood: At the World Cup with the Footballers, Fans, and Freaks

The FIFA World Cup is the planet's biggest event. Not sporting event—event, period,” writes Trecker in this in-your-face firsthand account of the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Trecker, Fox Sports soccer columnist, is passionate about the game (“Munich exploded in the sixth minute when Phillip Lahm, employing his signature move, cut from the left side into the area to sink a powerful right-footed shot into the top of Jose Porras's net”) and the players (“What makes Zidane truly special is not that he can control the pace of a match—there are other holding midfielders in the game—but that his motions and instincts are artful, serene, and beautiful”). Unfortunately, Trecker, while covering the sport, the games and the '06 World Cup comprehensively, falls prey to clichéd sports writing. He spends much time describing brothels (in South Korea and Germany), topless women and drunken debauchery—of both fans and the media alike. While not without its pleasures, this is mostly for the already initiated rather than the general reader. (Oct.)