Sports Soccer

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of My Story by Steven Gerrard, read Michael Ryan. Steven Gerrard is the former captain of Liverpool football team and of the England national football team and is the only player ever to have scored in a FA cup final, a league cup final, a UEFA cup final and a champion's league final. His entire career, since 1998, has been spent at Anfield with Liverpool.

Successful, high-profile sports agent Matt Kingston thinks he can handle anything. Then soccer player Parker Speedman shows up at his door. She is young and gorgeous, has natural talent, and is looking for a team. She’s also a hothead with a punchy past who floored her last coach on live TV. Despite his misgivings, Matt agrees to be both her agent and her coach. Professional common sense says she’s off-limits. But what can he say about the raw attraction between them?

Dani Stevens knew senior year was going to be something else-with her last season on the soccer team, the possible strain of losing a friendship, and crushes? All the crushes. But she didn't expect to be on the lookout for a sex trafficking ring in her town. When a young girl in her neighborhood seems to be in trouble with a pimp, Dani will do whatever she can to find out what she can and get the girl safely back home. Unbeknownst to Dani, there could be another predator on the loose. And if she doesn't watch her back, she could just end up being his next victim.

In the world of high performance sports, successful athletes need both customized hardware (Mechanics & Athleticism) as well as pre-set software (Mental & Emotional) skills to thrive in competition. Emotional Aptitude in Sports takes a deeper look into the emotional dominance every athlete seeks. Under developed emotional skill sets impede athletic progression, regardless of technical, mental or athletic skill sets. This book is an “In the trenches” guide to achieving the internal calmness during the heat of battle that’s found inside champions.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the world's top soccer player. But what happens when he's not scoring on the pitch? High-interest details of his fascinating life will enthrall listeners.

This in-depth examination of soccer takes listeners on a tour across the world and throughout history, introducing the many people who have attempted to shine a light onto and innovate a sport that, in many ways, is still stuck in the Dark Ages. This deep dive into the rise of analytics in soccer—a sport where tradition reigns supreme—shows how revolutionary tactics and underexplored metrics are breaking the beautiful game wide open.

Johan Cruyff is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in football history. Throughout his playing career, he was synonymous with Total Football, a style of play in which every player could play in any position on the pitch. Today his philosophy lives on in teams across Europe, from Barcelona to Bayern Munich, and players from Lionel Messi to Cesc Fabrecas.

Wall Street Journal reporters Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg offer a deeply reported account of the intertwined sagas and legacies of two of the greatest soccer players of all time—Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo—examining how their rivalry has grown from a personal competition to a multi-billion-dollar industry, paralleling the stunning rise, overwhelming excesses, and uncertain future of modern international soccer.

Fake dating a soccer star wasn’t on my to-do list. Neither was falling for my enemy. Sebastian Kane is arrogant, charming, and completely off-limits. One smirk from him ruined my chance to save the gumwood trees. Now I’m stuck pretending to be his girlfriend. He needs a good image to save his inheritance, and I need his funding to save my project. Our deal is strictly business—until it isn’t. Passion ignites, and feelings become blurred. Then, a surprise changes everything… But Sebastian’s reaction breaks my heart. Can we find a way to turn fake into forever?

A player who couldn’t score. A bleak soccer future as a bench-warmer. An athlete who lacked confidence in his game. Are you or a loved one enjoying soccer, but can’t stand not being confident on what to do with the ball? Do you or a child have a problem getting shots and making them go in? Are you a parent or player that would love to dribble several opponents at once but struggle even beating one? This three-in-one bundled book contains the second, third, and fourth books of the Understand Soccer Series.

Two alpha athletes. One football field. Zero self-control. I was the king of the backfield. Fast, focused, unstoppable. Then Marcus showed up. All hulking muscle, raw power, and speed to boot. He was great at everything. Especially getting under my skin. We didn’t get along on the field. So why couldn’t I stop looking at him after practice? When we stayed behind for extra drills, I told myself it was just competition. But the way Marcus stripped off his sweaty shirt, the way his eyes held mine... I felt something I’d never let myself feel for another guy. Now we’re facing off under ...

The Premier League is the most watched sports league in the world, broadcast into 188 countries and watched by 3.2 billion people worldwide. It revolutionised football, transforming the beautiful game into a multi-billion-pound business and making its biggest stars millionaires. Fever Pitch tells the inside story of the formation of the league, from the early discussions with Rupert Murdoch about how Sky could be at the heart of this new league, to the bitter rivalries and radical new managers who changed the face of football forever.

Set against the backdrop of an American town that without its consent had become a vast social experiment, Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach. Warren St. John documents the lives of a diverse group of young people as they miraculously coalesce into a band of brothers, while also drawing a fascinating portrait of a fading American town struggling to accommodate its new arrivals.

Confidence is everything! Mental toughness matters! From the author of the top-rated soccer conditioning program, Dominate Game Day, and host of the award-winning podcast, The Soccer Specialist, comes the next tool you can use to take your performance to the next level. The most common question I get from soccer parents is some version of 'How to I help my child become more confident?' I've seen too many good kids struggle to perform as well as they could because they didn't have the confidence and mental performance tools to do so. I don't want you to have the same struggles. Talent will ...

As one of the most famous and influential couples in the world, David and Victoria Beckham have attained iconic status. The ultimate power couple have together built a multi-billion-dollar global brand. For decades, adoring fans have been captivated by the glamorous world they have created, but are their lives really as perfect as the Beckhams would like the world to believe? The House of Beckham unravels the extraordinary reality of the business-savvy cultural icons to tell an engrossing, often astonishing story of money, sex and power.

In the decade since his mega-selling memoir I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he has played at Paris Saint-Germain (2012-2016), Manchester United (2016-2018), LA Galaxy (2018-2019) and Milan (2020-). This outrageous and hilarious follow-up is bursting with personal confessions and revealing anecdotes about the world's best players and managers. Packed with revelations, in Adrenaline, we hear for the first time what Zlatan really thinks about his time in the Premier League and what it was like to score that glorious bicycle kick against England.

Whether it is a manager being sacked, the signing of a new star player, television rights negotiations, player misconduct or multi-million-pound club takeovers, lawyers remain at the heart of all football business dealings. Written by leading Premier League lawyer Daniel Geey, who has dealt with all these incidents first hand, this highly accessible book explores the issues - from pitch to boardroom - that shape the modern game and how these impact leagues, clubs, players and fans.

The starting striker position on my college soccer team is mine for the taking. I may only be a freshman, but I've been working for this for years. Then he arrives: Henry. The hot shot transfer student from another state. He competes hard. Too hard. I'm getting worried he's going to win the striker position. So one night I stay late on the pitch, training as hard as I can. When I finally go to shower off, there's no one else in the locker room. No one except Henry. He's waiting for me. He's going to show his dominance one way or the other. I tell him I'm not gay. So why am I joining him in ...

Austin's out on bail. Cecilia's missing. And it's all my fault. I I should have protected her—kept her safe. Instead, I pushed her away. If anything happens to her, I'll never forgive myself. But if playing soccer's taught me anything, it's that I'm not afraid to fight for what's mine. On the field or off, I'll play dirty if I have to. Because losing her isn't an option. Not this time. Cecilia and me? We're endgame.

Barcelona's style of play—pressing and possessing—is the single biggest influence on modern soccer. In The Barcelona Inheritance, Jonathan Wilson reveals how and why this came to pass, offering an analysis of the evolution of soccer tactics and style. In the late 1990s, Johan Cruyff's Dream Team was disintegrating and the revolutionary manager had departed, but his style birthed to a new generation of thinkers, including Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho. Today, their teams top the Premier League, marking the latest installment in a rivalry that can be traced back 25 years.