During 1994’s World Cup in the United States, Joe McGinniss develops a passion that changes his life forever, going against North America’s historical lack of interest in soccer as a whole. He discovers the intense emotions brought on by the sport and Italy’s “calcio," succumbing to Roberto Baggio’s style, which impresses and fails spectacularly in equal parts during that particular World Cup. Soon after, now a full-blown soccer convert, McGinniss understands the achievements of an underdog team from Castel di Sangro, a town of fewer than 5,000 residents lost within the rural Abruzos of Italy. The courage, talent, and fearlessness of the young team, led by “bulldozer” Osvaldo Jaconi, brings the team from an amateur league to Series B of the professional league in a mere few years, marking a milestone in the history of soccer. Because McGinniss immortalizes that incredible feat, he decides to go to the small town to record the glory days of Castel di Sangro from 1996 and 1997. This book about that epic time period captures the passion of soccer like few other accounts, with Fellini-esque portraits of the main cast—the players, the coach, residents of the town, and the shady organization that backs the team with activities similar to those of the Mafia—a fresh, memorable history colored by happiness, devastation, mystery, crime, death, and all the drama that soccer in its purest state reveals.