World Cup Soccer LEVELED BOOK • P

A Reading A–Z Level P Leveled Book

Word Count: 674

World Cup
Soccer
Written by Dave Ord

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 World Cup
Glossary
goalkeeper (n.) a player whose job
is to keep the ball from

legends (n.)
entering the scoring
zone, or goal (p . 9)
famous people who
Soccer
are respected for their
particular talents (p . 11)
lively (adj.) active and energetic
(p . 8)
shootout (n.) a competition that
determines the
winner of a tied
game (p. 9)
tournaments (n.) series of games
or competitions to
determine a final
champion (p . 6)
uniform (n.) matching clothing
worn by members
of a team (p . 14) Written by Dave Ord

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 Photo Credits:
Front cover: © Christopher Morris/Corbis/Getty Images; back cover:
© Philippe Caron/Sygma/Corbis; title page: © iStockphoto.com/Kyoungil Jeon;
page 4: © David Silpa/UPI/Shutterstock; page 5: © Francisco Seco/AP/Shutterstock;
page 6: © REUTERS/Euroluftbild.de; page 7: © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis;
page 8: © REUTERS/Jerry Lampen; page 9: © REUTERS/Michael Dalder; page 10:
© Mike Theiler/UPI/Shutterstock; page 11: © REUTERS/Lee Besford; page 12:
© David Vincent/AP Images; page 13: © Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Sport/Getty
Images; page 14: © REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay; page 15: © REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

Center circle Halfway line Goalkeeper

Goal

Chile fans support their team as it attempts to earn a spot in the 2010
World Cup.

Conclusion
It’s easy to see why the World Cup
Penalty Forwards Midfielders Defenders
area or or is so successful . At each World Cup,
Halfbacks Fullbacks
fans from many nations visit the host
country . They sing, chant, and cheer
World Cup Soccer
Level P Leveled Book Correlation their teams at the stadium . Each host
© Learning A–Z
Written by Dave Ord
LEVEL P country adds new traditions and new
Fountas & Pinnell M
All rights reserved. Reading Recovery 28 memories to one of the world’s greatest
www.readinga-z.com
DRA 28 sporting events .

World Cup Soccer • Level P 15

 Table of Contents
The People’s Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Matches Around the World . . . . . . . . . 5

Africa Makes History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Great Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Zinedine Zidane scores a penalty kick against Italy in the 2006 World Cup
final.
The United States
and the World Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
What’s Your Number?
There are eleven players on a soccer Great Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
team . You can often tell what a player’s What’s Your Number? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
job is by looking at their uniform
number . The player who wears number Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
10 is often the player who scores and Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
helps others to score . Pelé wore number
10 . Watch for that number whenever
you’re at a game . The goalkeeper often
wears number 1 .

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 At 6 feet 2 inches, French player Wendie
Renard is the tallest player in Women’s
World Cup history . As a defender she
scored an incredible 102 goals in her first
343 appearances for her team, Lyon .

The United States Women’s National Team wins the 2019 World Cup.

The People’s Game

Some people call soccer “the people’s
game” because soccer is the world’s most
popular sport . About three hundred
million people play soccer (also known
as “football” in many countries) all
around the world . Every few years there
are the Men’s World Cup and Women’s
World Cup tournaments . An estimated
1 .12 billion people tuned into the 2019
Women’s World Cup Final on television! Wendie Renard, five-year reigning captain of Lyon, handles the ball during a
UEFA Women’s Champions League match in 2021.

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 Matches Around the World
The World Cup is the most important
event in soccer, maybe even in all sports .
Every four years, the planet’s best
players come together to compete in
the World Cup . It takes one month and
sixty-four games to decide the winning
team . Fans from all over the world come
to watch their teams play . The fans wear
silly hats, paint their faces, bang on
drums, and cheer on the players .

Megan Rapinoe scores a penalty shot during the 2019 Women’s

World Cup final.

Rapinoe was named the 2019 FIFA Best

Women’s Player . In the 2019 World Cup
she was named the Golden Ball (best
player) and the Golden Boot (best scorer) .
As Rapinoe’s popularity grew, she used
her fame to champion equality . She sued
the U .S . Soccer Federation to demand
the U .S . women’s team receive pay equal
to the men’s team . Fans of the South African team show their support.

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 Africa Makes History
Although soccer is popular all over the
world, a World Cup tournament wasn’t
held on the continent of Africa until
2010 . That’s why it was big news when
South Africa was chosen to host the
nineteenth Men’s World Cup . Over two
hundred countries competed for the
chance to send teams to the tournament .
Johannesburg, the largest city in the
country, was chosen to host the final
match of the 2010 Johannesburg
Men’s World Cup .
SOUTH
AFRICA AFRICA
The Soccer City stadium is located in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Great Players
Three well-known soccer legends are
Pelé (PAY-lay) from Brazil, Megan
Rapinoe (Ruh-peen-oh) from the United
States, and Wendie Renard (Reh-nard)
from France . Most people consider Pelé
to be the greatest men’s soccer player of
all time . He is the only man to have
played on three winning World Cup
teams . Pelé scored twelve World Cup
goals during his career .
Brazil soccer legend Pelé stands next to a photograph of himself doing his
famous “bicycle kick.”
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 Do You Know?
The first men’s World Cup was held in 1930 in Uruguay.
Only thirteen teams played in that tournament. It took
teams from Europe almost three weeks to reach Uruguay
by ship. There were seventeen games, with Uruguay
defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final.

The U.S. Women’s National Team wins its fourth Olympic Gold Medal
in 2012.

The United States and the World Cup

While the United States Men’s National
Team has never won, the Women’s
National Team has won four World Cup
titles . In 2019 they set the record of most
goals scored in a World Cup tournament .
They scored 26 goals, beating out
Germany’s previously held record of 25 .
While the men’s tournament began in
1930, the women’s did not begin until
1991, making their winning record even
The captains of the Italian and Hungarian teams shake hands before the
more impressive! 1938 finals match in Paris, France.

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 Italy’s men’s team has also been very
successful at the World Cup . In the
2006 final, Italy defeated France 5-3 in
a penalty shootout . A penalty shootout
happens if a game is tied after overtime .
Five players from each team take turns
kicking the ball from a spot twelve yards
from the goal line . Only the goalkeeper,
or “goalie,” stands between them and
the goal . The team that makes the most
penalty goals is the winner .

Brazil’s Lúcio kicks the ball over his head.

Great Teams
The world’s most successful men’s team
is Brazil . The Brazilian team that beat
Italy 4-1 in the 1970 final is often called
“the greatest team ever” by soccer fans .
Brazilians are known for their “banana
kicks,” which curve like the bend in a
banana and sail into the goal . Brazil is
also known for having some of soccer’s
Italy’s Daniele De Rossi scores a goal during the penalty shootout in the
most lively and colorful fans . first 2006 final.

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