Soccer Men : Profiles of the Rogues, Geniuses, and Neurotics Who Dominate the World's Most Popular Sport

In his national bestseller, Soccernomics , Simon Kuper pioneered a new way of looking at soccer, the world's most popular game, through his witty and meticulous use of data. In Soccer Men , Kuper explores the heart and soul of the sport by getting up close and personal with soccer's greatest players and coaches. An inquiry into the genius and hubris of the modern game, Soccer Men details the lives of international stars such as Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Josep Guardiola, Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, and David Beckham, describing their upbringings, the soccer cultures they grew up in, the way they play or coach, and the baggage they bring to their relationships at work. In this updated edition, Kuper profiles Hope Solo, Raymond Domenech, Andrea Agnelli, Robin van Persie, Carlo Ancelotti, and more. He also provides a brilliant comparison of two tales of immigrant life: Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and the autobiography of Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Simon Kuper's New York Times bestseller Soccernomics pioneered a new way of looking at soccer through meticulous empirical analysis and incisive — and witty — commentary. Kuper now leaves the numbers and data behind to explore the heart and soul of the world's most popular sport in the new, extraordinarily revealing Soccer Men . Soccer Men goes behind the scenes with soccer's greatest players and coaches. Inquiring into the genius and hubris of the modern game, Kuper details the lives of giants such as Arsà ̈ Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Jorge Valdano, Lionel Messi, Kakáand Didier Drogba, describing their upbringings, the soccer cultures they grew up in, the way they play, and the baggage they bring to their relationships at work. From one of the great sportswriters of our time, Soccer Men is a penetrating and surprising anatomy of the figures that define modern soccer. In his national bestseller, Soccernomics, Simon Kuper pioneered a new way of looking at soccer, the world's most popular game, through his witty and meticulous use of data. In Soccer Men, Kuper explores the heart and soul of the sport by getting up close and personal with soccer's greatest players and coaches. An inquiry into the genius and hubris of the modern game, Soccer Men details the lives of international stars such as Arsène Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Josep Guardiola, Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, and David Beckham, describing their upbringings, the soccer cultures they grew up in, the way t Xavi, April 2009Johan Cruijff, May 2009; Andrés Iniesta, May 2009; Eric Cantona, August 2009; Thierry Henry, December 2009; Lionel Messi, May 2010; David Beckham, October 2010; Wayne Rooney, October 2010; Frank Lampard, October 2010; The Autobiographies of Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, and Wayne Rooney, October 2010; Edwin van der Sar, March 2011; Robert Enke, October 2011; Robin van Persie and Rafael van der Vaart, November 2011; Hope Solo, August 2012; Zlatan Ibrahimovic, March 2013; Lionel Messi, June 2013; George Best, September 2013; Eusébio, January 2014 Clarence Seedorf, May 2003Freddy Adu, November 2003; Johnny Rep and Bernd Hölzenbein, June 2004; Michael Essien, August 2005; Fabio Cannavaro, July 2006; Dirk Kuyt, September 2006; Romario, March 2007; Gennaro Gattuso, April 2007; Zlatan Ibrahimovic, April 2007; Paolo Maldini, May 2007; Fernando Torres, August 2007; Florent Malouda, August 2007; Michael Owen, September 2007; Kaká, February 2008; Cesc Fabregas, February 2008; Nicolas Anelka, March 2008; Didier Drogba, May 2008; Franck Ribéry, July 2008; Michael Ballack, Ronaldo, Andriy Shevchenko, and Francesco Totti, September 2008 PART ii: MANAGERS AND GENERAL MANAGERSGlenn Hoddle and Tony Blair, June 1998; Daniel Passarella, December 2001; Arsène Wenger, May 2003; Guus Hiddink, March 2006; Sven-Göran Eriksson, May 2006; José Mourinho, January 2007; Glenn Hoddle, April 2008; Diego Maradona, September 2008; Josep Guardiola, March 2009; José Mourinho, April 2010; Arsène Wenger, April 2010; José Mourinho and Louis van Gaal, May 2010; Fabio Capello, June 2010; Diego Maradona, June 2010; Malcolm Allison, October 2010; Jorge Valdano, January 2011; Billy Beane, April 2011; Alex Ferguson, December 2011 Raymond Domenech, December 2012Arsène Wenger, January 2013; Josep Guardiola, April 2013; Alex Ferguson, May 2013; Alex Ferguson, October 2013; Carlo Ancelotti, January 2014; PART III: SOME OTHER SOCCER MEN; Anthony Minghella, April 1998; Jacques Herzog, May 2005; Franz Beckenbauer, January 2006; Mike Forde, November 2009; Ignacio Palacios-Huerta, June 2010; Johan Cruijff, December 2011; Andrea Agnelli, April 2013; Index