Hooper's Revolution

It’s 1976 and the United States is home to The Giganticos, a football super squad led by the one and only Pele, and more or less the only reason ASSA (The American All-Star Soccer Association) even exists. The world’s best (if aging) soccer players are now on American soil, much to the chagrin of the Soviet Union, who is desperately trying to win the Cold War and will not tolerate America’s bid for supremacy in the world’s most popular sport.
Enter Danny Hooper, a third-division English footballer from East Southwhich Albion club, whose thuggish reputation limits him to playing the role of enforcer on the pitch, despite his admiration for the artistry of world-class football from Latin America and the Continent.
After Danny takes his frustrations out on an unfortunate opponent’s tibia, he finds himself sold to the Rose City (otherwise known as Portland) Revolution—as in Portland, AMERICA. A proud if relatively unknown professional footballer, Danny could not have imagined sinking much lower than East Southwhich Albion, that is, until being traded to the Rose CIty Revoltion. And yet, there is more to the trade than Danny could ever imagine, after the British secret service pays him a surprise visit: turns out, he’s going to America not just to play soccer, but to help foil a communist plot to assassinate the Gigantico''s biggest star, a diminutive Brazilian known to his worldwide fans as the Black Pearl.
Danny’s adventures in America introduce us to a cast of slapstick characters, from his teammates - a rag tag group of aging, international soccer professionals, to his coach, a lovable old soak (and possible Communist sympathizer), to the idiosyncratic Soviet spies lurking in Portland’s lush forests. As the Rose City Revolution plays through it’s season, Danny must contend with not just the Russian spies, but the shenanigans of British and American secret agents, as well as the charms of the team trainer, Molly Hart, who might just be a spy herself.
The future of America’s soccer league, not to mention the life of the world’s greatest soccer player, hangs in the balance, but it is author Dennie Wendt''s pure love of the game, and his poetic sideline accounting of the Revolution''s season, match by match, that will leave you cheering at the end.