eduardo galeano football in sun and shadow

Garrincha’s kinks were never ironed out in a farm program, or corrected by a manager, because if they had been Garrincha would have stopped playing the game.

Whenever Galeano talks about the lack of creativity in the game, or the technocrats dulling it down, I imagine Galeano yearning to watch Garrincha just one more time. He never became a soccer idol for fame and fortune, he was not driven by a desire to make more money or garner more fame, he only became great because of his love for the game. As Galeano says, “They predicted this misshapen survivor of hunger and polio, dumb and lame, with the brain of an infant, a spinal column like an S, and both legs bowed to the same side, would never be an athlete.” Galeano states no one brought joy to fans quite like Garrincha did, and more importantly it was all for the love of the game. With every medical problem imaginable, no one would have ever predicted Garrincha to be such an amazing player. Galeano’s Sketch about Garrincha struck me as one of the most memorable, as Garrincha is the quintessential example of the unique and beautiful type of player Galeano admires so much. Please post your response to this by Wednesday January 24th at 5 p.m. What makes this particular sketch insightful, funny, or moving? Can you find other information about the incident or player he is describing? How does the sketch teach you to think about or see soccer in a different way? Students, as we read the first have of Galeano’s this week in “Soccer Politics,” pick your favorite sketch and analyze its style and structure here in the comments section. But at as the “Author’s Confession” makes clear, these fragmentary sketches are also a biographical account of the history of the game seen through Galeano’s own eyes, focusing on the important events that shaped his understanding of the game.Īndi Thomas, a sportswriter for, provided an excellent reflection on the importance of Soccer in Sun and Shadow after Galeano passed away at the age of 74.Īs you read, you might want to see if you can find videos of some of the goals or incidents described you can also check out these previous blog posts that include videos of some of the goals described by Galeano himself. With topics as broad as “the Ball” and as specific as the “Goal by Atilio,” these sketches lay out a sweeping account of soccer’s history.

Rather than providing a standard ‘nuts and bolts’ account of the game, forcing the reader to sift through countless names, dates and statistics, Galeano instead provides his readers with 150 short sketches about the game. Eduardo Galeano’s Soccer in Sun and Shadow is one of the most lauded books written about soccer to this day.

Eduardo galeano football in sun and shadow