Read Along or Enhanced eBook: This Level 3 book introduces and examines the different aspects of soccer. Students will develop word recognition and reading skills while learning about the history and rules of soccer, as well as how to play the game. Additional text features and search tools, including a glossary and an index, help students locate and review important information.

This Level 3 book introduces and examines the different aspects of soccer. Students will develop word recognition and reading skills while learning about the history and rules of soccer, as well as how to play the game. Additional text features and search tools, including a glossary and an index, help students locate and review important information.

Moneyball meets Freakonomics in this myth-busting guide to understanding—and winning—the most popular sport on the planet. Innovation is coming to soccer, and at the center of it all are the numbers—a way of thinking about the game that ignores the obvious in favor of how things actually are. In The Numbers Game, Chris Anderson, a former professional goalkeeper turned soccer statistics guru, teams up with behavioral analyst David Sally to uncover the numbers that really matter when it comes to predicting a winner. Investigating basic but profound questions—How valuable are corners? Which goal matters most? Is possession really nine-tenths of the law? How should a player’s value be judged?—they deliver an incisive, revolutionary new way of watching and understanding soccer.

Essential reading for soccer fans as the 2022 World Cup approaches, this lively and lyrical book is "an ideal guide to the world's most popular sport" (Simon Kuper, coauthor of Soccernomics). Soccer is not only the world's most popular game; it's also one of the most widely shared forms of global culture. The Language of the Game is a passionate and engaging introduction to soccer's history, tactics, and human drama. Profiling soccer's full cast of characters—goalies and position players, referees and managers, commentators and fans—historian and soccer scholar Laurent Dubois describes how the game's low scores, relentless motion, and spectacular individual performances combine to turn each match into a unique and unpredictable story. He also shows how soccer's global reach makes it an unparalleled theater for nationalism, international conflict, and human interconnectedness, with close attention to both men's and women's soccer. Filled with perceptive insights and stories both legendary and little known, The Language of the Game is a rewarding read for anyone seeking to understand soccer better—newcomers and passionate followers alike.

Presenting an empirically underpinned synthesis of research and theory, while offering guidance for applied practitioners, this is the first book to comprehensively map the psychology of learning, playing, and coaching the world’s favourite sport. The book provides a complete analysis of key topics that capture the broad range of football psychology such as personality, motivation, cognition, and emotion; coaching and team essentials; psychological skills for performance enhancement; and developing players in youth football. Including contributions from a range of international researchers, each chapter provides a review of the relevant literature, key theories, real-world examples, and reflections on how knowledge can be applied in practice. Split into four sections, the book covers a diverse range of topics relevant not only to coaching and performance but also to personality development and health promotion. Essential reading for any student, researcher, or professional in the area, the book is the most cutting-edge overview of how psychology can explain and improve the way football is both played and understood.

From patches of dirt to gleaming turf, soccer is a game for all. Includes fun facts, maps and infographics, an illustrated diagram, a photo gallery, an interactive glossary, and more. Full color.

Through stunning infographics and high-quality illustrations, the world of soccer is brought to life. Full of facts and stats, players and personalities, this is the beautiful game as you have never seen it before. Whether it is uncovering the most goals scored in an international tournament, or comparing the left-foot of the world's best players, the intriguing and often surprising truths of soccer are uncovered. From the legend-makers Brazil and their world cup wins, the tallest and shortest players to have graced the game, to pitting the top players against each others, these striking and fun infographics put the game's most intriguing questions to the test. Who has scored more from the penalty spot, Ronaldo or Messi? Which goalie has the safest hands? Who has received the most red cards?