Golazo!: The Beautiful Game from the Aztecs to the World Cup: The Complete History of How Soccer Shaped Latin America

A really deep survey of Soccer in Latin America, although the majority of the book is spent chronicling the history of Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. Mr Campomar does a good job in waving the histories of most of the nations he talks about with soccer (or futbol) and helps explain the changing tide of all of the countries within their economic, social and political sphere. The more modern chapters get really interesting, as we see the game becoming more interconnected, but the early chapters really lay the foundation for the last 5. Good read, and the chapters, while long, tend to flow really smoothly. Highly recommend.

The book that is long overdue. Major topic for anyone interested in the history of football, and history of South America. Unfortunately very uneven in its content, excellent and informative read up too the '70's and then somehow slips in the quality, seems almost rushed in order to be delivered for the World Cup. My main problem is that history of some important teams like River Plate, Boca Juniors, Nacional, Penarol, are barely touched, others like Independiente, Racing, and Brazilian teams not even mentioned. With all these omissions the book will hopefully initiate a slew others that treat the topic of South American football.

The history of football (or soccer – this review will use the term “football”) in South American is not only rich with exciting players and teams on the pitch, but also colorful on how much it is intertwined with the politics of the continent’s nations. This book by Andreas Campomar is a complete, detailed history of the “beautiful game” in that area of the world.While the title does state that the book is about football in Latin American, once the ancient history about the game with the Aztecs is told, football and politics in three South American nations make up the bulk of the material: Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. While this would not be completely surprising as these three nations have won nine World Cup championships among them, the book does lack material on most of the other nations, with a notable exception of Chile and Columbia, and practically ignores Central American football. While this can be understood to a degree with the author being a native of Uruguay, this felt to make the book slightly incomplete despite its wealth of research and material.There are times when the reading is slow and difficult as so many details are crammed into a passage, including many names of players that only appear once as that person’s last name. When this was happening, as it especially did when the discussion was about some of the best years for either Brazil or Argentina, I had to slow down and sometimes backtrack because I was getting lost. Readers who are avid fans of these nations’ team or knowledgeable about the history may not have any trouble with these parts. However, for a fan who either follows the sport in other parts or the world or is simply a casual fan who wishes to learn more about these legendary national teams, this might become a challenge.However, working one’s way through this is certainly worth the time and effort as the football is rich with history. The most enjoyable section of the book for me was the description of how the Aztecs played the game. If American fans feel today’s game lacks offense, then they wouldn’t want to know how difficult it was to score at that time. Other excellent sections of the book include how Uruguay became a soccer powerhouse in the 1930’s and 1940’s, winning two of the first four World Cup tourneys and how Brazil’s rise to power in the 1960s paralleled that of its government.Overall , this book is an excellent source of history on South American football and while at times is a dense and very detailed read, it is one that is recommended for readers who want to learn more about not only the game in the continent, but also about the politics of some of the bigger nations and how they closely related to the success or lack of success by the national football team.

Football came to South America through private school teachers, bankers, and railway engineers and managers but by the 1st World War while Europe was distracted the native population took over the game and the face of the sport was forever changed. CAMPOMAR calls this "Creollo Futbol" and this book explores this on a country by country basis. Sounds Interesting? It did to me and I devoured this book as soon as it arrived. Easy to read, GOLAZO (the Spanish word to describe a goal of spectacular quality) has the stories I'd expect to find along with new ones I had never read before. I think you will like this, I did

An excellent hustory of south american football

Certainly one of the finest books on soccer in Latin America ever. I loved the focus more on the Libertadores and Copa America as well as tours to Europe and across the globe by Pele's Santos and their ilk. The stuff on the breakaway Columbian league in the '40s and '50s was superb as I finally got a true feel for the whys and hows such players as Alfredo di Stefano and Neil Franklin ended up there.It's not only a book focused on soccer. It interweaves the politics of the region as it relates to society and soccer without being too overbearing politically. Also, the trivia alone could be a book unto itself. From the team colors (and names) of many clubs in the region taking their cue from touring English sides back in the day to Brazilian fans not understanding the difference between Sweden and France (read the book to find out what happened after Brazil's 2-2 draw with France at the 1950 World Cup Finals).

one of my favorite books

A must for football lovers of Latin America history.