Clemente A. Lisi has worked as a journalist and editor for more than two decades. In that time, he has been an editor at major metropolitan dailies such as the New York Post and the New York Daily News and served as senior editor at ABCNews.com. He is the author of The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team: An American Success Story (2013), A History of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team (2017), and the previous editions of A History of the World Cup. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Lisi’s updated edition on soccer’s most important competition is very similar to his earlier volumes in structure, content, and features. He again does an effective job of capturing the excitement of the world’s most popular sporting event by providing vivid accounts of individual games and crucial plays, along with profiles of its most accomplished athletes and their feats. Photographs enhance the fast-paced text, and a glossary of terms makes a wonderful primer for the novice and occasional fan. . . .[In addition], the two appendixes of World Cup statistics and records are almost 60 pages long. They catalog the scores of every game from the tournament’s history beginning in 1930 through the most current cup competition in 2014. . . .Lisi writes extensively on that event making this title a solid option even for those libraries that already own the earlier editions. Verdict: Readers and researchers of soccer literature will value the updated chapter and statistics on the 2014 World Cup found in this new edition.

• Foreword by Bruce MurrayAcknowledgmentsIntroduction 1: The World Cup is Born 2: The First Steps 3: Brazil is Born 4: Pelé the King 5: Total Football6: The Hand of God7: A New Frontier8: “Four”-Za Italia! 9: Viva España 10: Obrigado, Germany 11: United FranceAppendix A: World Cup Stats Appendix B: World Cup RecordsBibliographyIndexAbout the Author