Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup

<p><em>The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup</em> features original pieces by thirty-two leading writers and journalists about the thirty-two nations that have qualified for the world's greatest sporting event. In addition to all the essential information any fan needs--the complete 2006 match schedule results from past tournaments facts and figures about the nations players teams and referees--here are essays that shine a whole new light on soccer and the world.</p><ul><li><p>Former Foreign Minister of Mexico Jorge G. Castañeda invites George W. Bush to watch a game.</p></li><li><p>Novelist Robert Coover remembers soccer in Spain after the death of General Francisco Franco.</p></li><li><p>Dave Eggers on America and the gym teachers who kept it free from communism.</p></li><li><em><p>Time</em> magazine's Tokyo bureau chief Jim Frederick shows how soccer is displacing baseball in Japan.</p></li><li><p>Novelist Aleksandar Hemon proves once and for all that sex and soccer do not mix.</p></li><li><p>Novelist John Lanchester describes the indescribable: the beauty of Brazilian soccer.</p></li><li><em><p>The New Yorker</em>'s Cressida Leyshon on Trinidad and Tobago 750-1 underdogs.</p></li><li><p><em>Fever Pitch</em> author Nick Hornby on the conflicting call of club and country.</p></li></ul><p>Plus an afterword by Franklin Foer on the form of government most likely to win the World Cup.</p>