Loved it! Very thorough. Well written.

In 2002 I bought a book called THE COMPLETE BOOK OF THE WORLD CUP by CHRIS FREDDI. It covered every World Cup tournament from the first one in 1930 through the most recent one (then) in 1998. Each tournament was broken down on a match by match basis. You got the line-ups (and when permitted) the substitutions for both countries, the names and times of every goal in each match, the name and country of each referee, the stadium where each match was played, and even the attendance at the stadium. In short, the book was a treasure trove for the intense fan. I wore out two copies.

THE WORLD CUP:THE COMPLETE HISTORY appears, on the surface, to follow FREDDI'S path. But beware. It falls fall woefully short. Yes, you get the line-ups of each match (including substitutions) along with the name of the match officials. Goals are assigned to the appropriate goals scorers but without the times of the goal. That denies you any sense of what the momentum changes were of the match and in which order the goals were scored, robbing you of any sense of drama.

Another problem is with the narratives surrounding the matches. In the FREDDI volume the narratives are crisply written and give an excellent review of the match. In the newer volume the narratives are wordy and long. This makes for tedious reading.

One strength of the newer volume it that it provides detail about the qualifying matches. I found this interesting as usually this part of any world cup is ignored beyond the final scores.

But this is not enough to recommend THE WORLD CUP: THE COMPLETE HISTORY. Yes, a project like this becomes dated with each new World Cup final, but my feeling is that this new attempt doesn't satisfy in the way the original book did. CHRIS FREDDI, if you're alive and able, we need you to update your original work.

This book is keeps it simple, it gives a brief decription of the forming of the World Cup. Then goes on and tells you all the results from qualifing rounds to the final. It also gives a description on the the host country(s) and each round in the finals. If you want a written history of the world cup then you probably can get better, but if you want one with every score of every game then this is perfect. In my humble opion a must have for any World Cup and Football fan.

First time I found a book that included how the teams qualified for all the World Cups, with all the results given.

I just hope that they will update it. I would like to buy the next updated editions as well.

My husband is keeping it by his side table and returning to it over and over again.... It will be dog eared soon!!!!

GREAT

Essentially this book has one key strength; it contains the scores of every match in World Cup history, including qualifiers. That is it and that information is freely available on Wikipedia and the RSSSF online.

Otherwise it is weak in comparison with a raft of better histories available. The match reports are short, providing limited details while the statistical information is sadly lacking and doesn't even tell you the minute in which the goals were scored.

A key weakness is the way that the match reports are ordered. He works in rounds rather than taking each group in sequence. Therefore he'll start off with the first round of group matches, then the second and then the third. By the time you have got to the third it is easy to forget the previous results in the group, meaning that much of the drama of the tournament is sorely missing.

The prose itself is lively enough, so the reports read well but are lacking in the little details which would have been beneficial.

In summary there are much better alternatives available.

The book i purchased was excellent with all the information i needed if you have a book which contains the world cups 2006 and 2010 i would very much be interested in buying.Once again for a great book and excellent service.

Regards Martin Walker