"Before Messi, before Ronaldo, before Beckham, there was Edson Arantes do Nascimento--known simply as Pelé. A national treasure, he created pure magic with his accomplishments on the field: an unprecedented three World Cup championships and the all-time scoring record, with 1,282 goals in his twenty year career. Now, with the World Cup returning after more than sixty years to Brazil--the country often credited with perfecting the sport--soccer has...

This book describes the fluctuating American appetite for soccer, and chronicles the game at college and professional levels. Wangerin also writes of the city of St. Louis's unique historic attachment to the sport, Tom Cahill, the "father of American soccer," and the 1979 North American Soccer League season.

"In the tradition of Friday Night Lights and Outcasts United, ONE GOAL tells the inspiring story of the soccer team in a town bristling with racial tension that united Somali refugees and multi-generation Mainers in their quest for state--and ultimately national--glory. When thousands of Somali refugees resettled in Lewiston, Maine, a struggling, overwhelmingly white town, longtime residents grew uneasy. Then the mayor wrote a letter asking Somalis...