It Doesn't.

One that almost got away, How Soccer Explains the World, by Franklin Foer.

A misleading title. In fact, this book demonstrates how social, political, economic and cultural forces shape football, rather than the reverse.

The title's also a bit of a giveaway in another respect: The fact that it refers to footie as 'soccer' tells you it's by an American and for Americans. Foer has clearly done his reading of the standard texts (Jimmy Burns's Barca, David Winner's Brilliant Orange, Simon Kuper's Football against the Enemy, etc.) and he's been to a few matches, but as always in these books, there's a sense of 'slumming it,' that football supporters are lumpenprole idiots who, a la Bill Buford, drink lager and smell of cheese and onion crisps (such debased, vulgar tastes!). Foer declares how wonderful it is that he can watch European matches on satellite TV in the comfort of his own home (no doubt he's a Fox subscriber, given that this is a HarperCollins book and the gratitude he extends to Rupert Murdoch), not so much because he's living in the States, where 'soccer' of such quality is unavailable, but because it means he doesn't have to get off his arse and mingle with the ruffians. If he loves soccer so much, he ought to be out there organizing kids' teams or supporting his local MSL or WUSA team. But this is an armchair supporters' book at best, and feels smug with it. Not that I object to televised footie: I just don't think you can tell too much about the people in the stands when you're that far removed.

Rant over.