Love and Blood: At the World Cup with the Footballers, Fans, and Freaks [Paperback]

I had no grasp of how little I knew of US Soccer, much less the world cup, until reading Trecker's book. It is a "stay up all night 'cause it's so engaging" flight through the politics, sociology, finance, underbelly and countless freaks which color the world football stage. It doesn't just tell the story (and it does, with great entertainment value); it gives you an understanding of all the forces behind the story, and why it matters.

I picked this book up on my way out of a Borders store, not having previously heard anything about it. The title and the short description on the back, however, intrigued me as I spent 4 weeks at home in Germany last summer.

Trecker does a good job shedding light on the workings of FIFA, the US soccer federation and the problems the sport faces in the US. The soccer tidbits in the book are a good read, but he gets much too shallow when he tries to analyse participating countries, their followers and customs. He should have left the judgement out of this book (or analyse deeper) - after all, why do I care about his inability to buy medicine in the host country, something he goes into some detail about? And while he complains multiple times about perceived transportation problems he makes no effort to investigate the underlying reasons - good journalism reads differently.

While I found the concept (reading a book about the 2006 World Cup) intriguing, the execution fell short of my expectations.

Before I begin, it would probably be wise to let everything out. After all, if a reader understands where I am coming from, they can take my observations with the appropriate grains of salt.

First off, at one time, I was writing for any number of soccer sites, including MLSnet.com. I gained somewhat of a reputation from my work at the now defunct InternetSoccer.com. In some circles I guess I was considered a "journalist," but I laugh at that one, as I personally wouldn't sully the reputation of the many good real journalists out there by lumping myself in with them. Anyhow, thanks to my work, I had a chance to interact with a good many soccer journalists, including the author of "Love & Blood: At the World Cup with the Footballers, Fans, and Freaks," Mr. Jamie Trecker.

Among the many of us who intently follow the sport in the US, there is this sort of love/hate relationship with Mr. Trecker. On the one hand, we value and appreciate the few professional soccer writers in the US. On the other, Mr. Trecker has been one of the most outspoken critics of Major League Soccer, US Soccer, and anything else related to the US game. Like anything, some of his criticism is justified, some of it is not. Many of the disagreements many have with him is the fact has to do with personality, his argumentative style, and his pretentiousness. Throw in a penchant for the perceived lack of substance and his running loose with facts, you can understand why his name causes many soccer fans to roll their eyes.

There are other reasons as well, but if you are reading "Love & Blood" you are probably well aware of the issues. In fairness, Mr. Trecker has always stated that his objective was to cover the sport the way other sports are covered. Meaning, his role as an investigative journalist lends himself to constantly question, wondering what the true motives are to any decision, a healthy skepticism for the marketing spin that most soccer organizations have fallen prey to, and a belief that there is a better way (Even if that better way often seems to be his way...).

With all that said, let me get on to his first book, "Love & Blood." I bought this through Amazon. My view is that regardless of my opinion of the author, if a professional soccer writer in the US is going to take the time to write a book, I will read it. Perhaps the day will come when Bob Costas writes a book on the game. When it does, I won't be so inclined to buy anymore. In the meantime, with so few out there, I will buy. I even own a copy of Chris Gallutia's "Addicted to Black & Gold: One Fan's Year With His Club and the World's Most Popular Sport."

Honestly, I was excited to read it, and truly wanted to be able to say that this was the great American soccer book. Any book that combines a fans love of the game, married with observations about the world cup, and some inside views from a journalist, well, the combination sounds like a great read. Unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations.

There are two parts of this book - one I thoroughly enjoyed, and the other that I considered to be pretentious, amateurish, elitist, and at times rambling. The first part are his discussions of being on the ground in Germany, interacting with fans, running around the country. Far from glamour, there were moments where you realize being a journalist at the World Cup must be awful. Covering games, dealing with the pomposity of FIFA, you prefer to be a fan... that's if you can get tickets. To his credit, Mr. Trecker seems to have jumped head first into his subject. His liver probably was the worse for wear considering the amount of times he was stuck with fans at a beer garden or some other watering hole.

His penchant for staying in places that were less than ideal were also amusing, albeit a bit tired after awhile. There are only so many stories one can read about prostitutes, before it becomes old hat. His story of getting to his hotel in Berlin just before the final was truly funny. While walking up the stairs to his room, luggage and wife in tow, he stumbled across a film crew making a gay porn movie. He even had a chance to enjoy a beverage with one of the members of the crew. Truly a classic story if I have ever heard one. I wonder if there is not a XXX rated movie out there with his name in the credits for having helped get a can of coke for one of the crew.

There were some observations about the game that I considered to be simplistic. For example, in discussing the World Cup in Japan and Korea in 2002, Mr. Trecker writes - "Without their imposing stadiums and fans behind them, quite a number of European teams were revealed as very average." While I am certain this had something to do with it, I think the difficulties of the Europeans to deal with this World Cup, the hectic scheduling that occurred prior, and soccer fatigue have been well documented.

Interestingly enough, early in the book as he comments on the US game, Mr. Trecker makes some interesting observations. Among them is a tacit recognition that the game has evolved quite significantly over the last 15 years. For him, there has been a sea change, and 2006 it was noticeable. He writes, "Back then (2002) America's Pro League was still considered shaky; today no one asks if (or when) MLS is going to close its doors." What he failed to mention that he was one of those most vocal authorities on the demise of MLS. In fact, I started writing because of an article he wrote in 1999 extolling the greatness of the NASL. He does the same to a lesser degree in this book, but I think I, others, and history has shown that the NASL wasn't as great as what we would like to believe.

Regardless, his unadulterated experiences at the cup is certainly worth reading. But the second part of the book, the part that I certainly could have done without, was his feable effort at historical analysis, melted together with some social criticism, and spiced up with a pinch of politics. These were the parts I considered to be "pretentious, amateurish, elitist, and at times rambling." What struck me was how much of this took away from the soccer experiences. In an effort to add some color, Mr. Trecker often would do deep dives into the local history, it's impact on modern Germany, and ultimately how it was manifest in the Cup. Unfortunately, Mr. Trecker's history book only went back to World War II. Certainly a major event as it relates to modern German society, but I was amazed at what he managed to exclude - Germany's impact on European intellectual history, home of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, the Marshall Plan. Obviously, this is not a history book but a collection of his observations. But in telling the stories he did, using the history he chose to focus one, Mr. Trecker revealed his myopic point of view that he has often been criticized for.

There were a host of references, whether in the actual text, or his liberal use of footnotes, that had my head scratching. In one footnote, where he discusses how teams came to get their kit colors (Page 25), he seems to give legitimacy to the reasoning behind Australia's for using Brazilian colors. He adds in, almost mockingly, why the US never wore the color red in its uniform for the longest time. If, as Mr. Trecker rightly suggests throughout his book, that history does play a significant role in how things are, then it is perfectly legitimate for a US Soccer President to ban red from the uniforms because he thought the color was "commie."

I don't think he was trying to be intentionally funny, but I laughed when I read his comparison between the worlds of 1972 and 2006. Mind you, not the soccer world, but THE world. Bottom line is that there were similarities - "unpopular American Presidents fighting ill-considered wars, a global energy crisis, a war raging in the Middle East." Reminds me of that email that "eerily" compares how similar President Lincoln and President Kennedy were - both became president and both were assassinated. This is the sort of thing that struck me as amateurish. I remember sitting in grad school arguing similar absurdities. It was all a part to sound so intelligent, so grasping of big ideas, so capable of being the next great American historian... all the while, the reality was that we were naïve, selective in our readings, opinionated, and myopic.

There is so much more, but I don't want to go point for point. You can support Mr. Trecker (one of the few US Soccer Writers in the US) by buying "Love & Blood: At the World Cup with the Footballers, Fans, and Freaks," and finding them on your own. To his credit Mr. Trecker has blazed a trail for others to follow. And perhaps, someday, thanks to his initiative we may even see a soccer book by Bob Costas.