If any of you are like me, you might enjoy collecting matches and books on football, and especially Brasilian footy. Maybe we can have a thread where fellow BSers can recommend books or matches they’ve read or purchased, as well as where to purchase if available.
If you love the Selecao and its history Enciclopedia da Selecao : 1914 – 2002, by Ivan Sotor ISBN: 85-87199-05-6 ~ R$ 50 Get this if you love the Selecao and its history. It not only has an table with EVERY Selecao (738) game up until the final of the last WC. It lists dates, location, public, ref, complete list of all players – first teamers and subs – for the Selecao and the opponent, and of course scores, goal scorers, substitutions, as well at nature of the encounter and what was at stake. Additionally, there is narrative that brings to light unusual or forgotten items about different eras, and about some specific games, and the climate of the Selecao at the time. You’ll understand why Zizinho was left out of ’54 WC, why Argentina and Brasil have a different win/loss count on their head to heads, and the differences between the old South American competition and the Copa Roca (in addition to many more informational gems). There’s also an alphabetical table of every player that has ever made the Selecao, how often they were capped, and their goals. Well worth it.
Absolutely excellent for us statisticians. His previous book was good as well. I have also got statistical books on Mengo and Timao.
Hey Cerezo, Would you recommend them? If so, can you give more specifics - title, author, do they have narrative as well?
"Futebol the Brazilian Way of Life" by Alex Bellos in an excellent read. "Almanaque do Timao" by Celso Dario Unzelte (by Placar Editora Abril) gives every game played up to a couple of year together with the full name and date of brth (where obtainable) of every player to have wornn the shirt. "Almanaque do Flamengo" by Roberto Assaf - worth doing an aouthor search against his name as he has done other books - and Clovis Martins (by Placar Editora Abril): same format as Timao book.
"Confissoes de um Torcedor" by Nelso Motnta is an entertaining read. It's about his experiences covering the Cups of 82,86,90 & 94 as a journalist. Good stuff about the atomosphere and culture surrounding each cup. I don't know how easy it is to find these days, considering it's a bit dated. I was lucky and found it at a book fair in Salvador for cheap.
New Book "Seleção Brasileira - 90 anos de História, Conquistas e Glória no Futebol", será lançado em setembro no jogo Brasil x Bolívia Worth having I reckon............
Just to name but a couple ..... Football in The Sun and Shadow - Eduardo Galeano ... a Uruguayan novelist and writer who 'lives and breathes football' in Montevideo.Is a book of short well crafted stories about the triumphs and tribulations of football..through the perspective of the working class south american fan. "When good football happens I give thanks for the miracle and i dont give a damn which team or country performs it" - Eduardo Galeano Written in prose but this guy is a true poet.Should have the passions stirring of any football fan. Pele:His Life and Times -Harry Harris....a tribute to perhaps the greatest player who ever lived.Oddily enuff his one and only Biography. Of note is the story told by Bobby Charlton when England were playing Brazil at the Maracana in 1964.Pele has the ball in the centre circle and Charlton thinks to himself 'Ok Pele I've heard so much about you ..lets see what you are capable of..'. 20 seconds later the ball is at the back of the England net. Sheer genius. Has anyone seen this goal??
"Of note is the story told by Bobby Charlton when England were playing Brazil at the Maracana in 1964.Pele has the ball in the centre circle and Charlton thinks to himself 'Ok Pele I've heard so much about you ..lets see what you are capable of..'. 20 seconds later the ball is at the back of the England net. Sheer genius. Has anyone seen this goal??" Interesting. Havent seen this particular goal myself. Does anyone know if its featured in the "Pele Eterno" documentary? Didnt catch it in the theaters back in June, but will get the DVD in the cominhg weeks. I will sure look for that goal. Brazil x England at the Maracana must have been recorded. Hope so.
Interestingly enough, last week on ESPN Classics they had a documentary on Pele (pretty poor, as they don't do "soccer" very well), and they showed the footage of the goal at the point that the shot is taken about 20 meters from goal (its also available on "O Rei Pele" with full footage of him accelerating with ball from outside of center circle to the point he makes the shot). Sir Bobby Charlton was one of the interviewees in the documentary, and he says that O Rei shouted "gol" while in the act of shooting! Edson, this book is not the same as "My Life and the Beautiful Game" is it? That book is well worth getting if only for Pele's describing the sensation of his first few years in the professional game, and his impressions during WC 1958 as a teenager. If interested, here's a review of "My Life..." I posted awhile back https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1907957&postcount=8 The best parts are the insights you can't get other than from the protagonist:
Pele:His Life and Times is a perspective of O'Rei through the eyes of his colleagues, friends and family.It came out last year.It isnt as insightful as 'My Life..' but a great read none the less. Very difficult finding a video of the said Brazil v. England match on video tape but a 3 minute highlights of goals can be found here , along with other hard to find obscure Brazil matches ....friendlies,qualifiers etc. tp ,Of that body swerve and dummy against mazurkiewicz(sp?) it was voted one of the top ten skills on a sports field;on a par with THAT Maradona run IMHO.
http://www.contrapie.com/participaciones.asp?idioma=3 Ran across these series of articles from past greats (including tostao, pele, just fontaine) and knowledgeable football journalists in which they wax poetic on past greats, the nuances and intricacies of the game, and happenings of their time. Some nice reads on Zizinho and some argentine greats such as Moreno, that weren’t around for the TV generation. Also available in French, and Spanish (http://www.contrapie.com/) Here are two to start with: Gol de Esmola – Pele http://www.contrapie.com/vercronicas.asp?id_cronica=483 O Rei describes an incident in a game that ends with a surprising twist…having to do with a professional player’s pride in his work. A quick read. A Partida Celestial – Luis Antonio Reyes http://www.contrapie.com/vercronicas.asp?id_cronica=292 The author describes a fictional game in heaven with all the greats.
Another Book O Livro das Datas do Futebol Autor: Rodolfo Martins Rodrigues Editora: Panda Books ISBN: 85-8753-761-X Formato: 14 x 21 cm Número de páginas: 192 Preço: R$24,90 Quando foi mesmo que a Seleção Brasileira quebrou aquele tabu? Que dia aconteceu a maior goleada da história? Qual é a data de fundação de seu time? O Livro das Datas do Futebol traz as datas mais importantes do futebol do mundo inteiro em todos os tempos. Você sabia que em 14 de abril de 1895 foi disputado o primeiro jogo de futebol no Brasil, na Várzea do Carmo, em São Paulo, entre duas equipes de ingleses radicados na capital paulista? A partida terminou com a vitória do São Paulo Railway por 4 x 2 sobre a Companhia de Gás. Em 24 de junho de 1950, no primeiro jogo oficial do Maracanã, após a estréia, no dia 16 de junho, entre seleções amadoras, o Brasil vence o México por 4 x 0, no primeiro jogo da seleção Brasileiro na Copa do Mundo. Ademir de Menezes, Baltazar e Jair Rosa Pinto fazem os gols brasileiro. Ademir fez o primeiro gol oficial do estádio! Essas e outras curiosidades estão reunidas neste livro. Não perca tempo e garanta o seu!
My Book I've written a book about Brazilian football and was wondering if anyone knew what i need to do to get it published. I want to send it to a magazine or something first to see if it's any good. Know how???
Livro Terceiro Tempo were advertising a book called something like: "Pentacampeo .....Charles Miller ao Robinho"? Anyone heard of it?
Re: My Book In England there is an annual book called the Writer's Handbook which features lists of publishers, literary agents and generally everything you need to get published. If there is an equivlanet in Brazil it would be a good start. Most libraries over here carry copies (thought they may be a few years old). Back on topic, a very good video on the history of the selecao for the objective football fan is "The Boys from Brazil" by the BBC. The copy I have runs up to the 1990 WC and features highlights of many great games and players. I'm sure most people will have most of the stuff on there, but it does offer a good starting point for people.
I have a book by Tostão that is of course great. It is called: Tostão LEMBRANÇAS OPINIOES REFLEXOES SOBRE FUTEBOL It is more or less in the same stile of his newspaper´s chronics but it is not a collection of them. There is also a great book by João Saldanha: Os subterrâneos do Futebol. Very funny book, lots of interesting tales, specially about Garrincha. He tell us how the Ole chant started in Mexico. Lots of other histories. He had a profound respect and admiration for Garrincha, and by his histories, though they are very charicatural, he desmestify the idea of a dumb Garrincha. The guy was smart, very smart! And for all botafogo´s fan it is a must read book! Of course there are the Nelson Rodrigues collections of news papers articles: A Sombra das Chuteiras Imortais and A Pátria de Chuteiras The chronicle that he calls Pele o Rei for the first time is classic. Another very nice one is one that he destroy the argument of one psicologist that criticise Pele in a game when Pele brake a germany player legs. You must read to see how he shows that that act was a simbol of liberation and just our síndrome de vira-lata would prefer to have Pele´s leg to be broken (by the way this is a famous play where the referee gives the foul against germany, the guy enter violently but Pele defended himself braking the oponent legs.).