This is the second part of a two-part interview. Click here to go to the first part.

The Simplest Game shows, as well as a book possibly could, the whole picture of the world's most popular sport. First published in 1976, it is now in the second printing of its third edition.

The first edition coincided with the emergence of the North American Soccer League and the arrival of Pele in the United States. Since the first edition of The Simplest Game, the NASL folded but left a profound legacy. The 1994 World Cup came to U.S. shores and spurred the arrival of Major League Soccer. Soccer has grown at all levels, and the book's latest edition describes and assesses the current state of the game in the United States.

It also takes you through the entire world of soccer. No other American soccer book has stayed in print as long as the The Simplest Game. On the occasion of its latest printing, author Paul Gardner offers insights into the book that prompted Pele to write, ''When you have read all that Paul Gardner has to say, I think you will have a new and deeper understanding of soccer.''

Did covering American sports ù for example, writing ''Nice Guys Finish Last'' ù help prepare you for writing The Simplest Game?

Yes, very much so. To write ''Nice Guys Finish Last'' I did a lot of research and reading on the history of American sports, in particular on baseball. I still have four or five quite lengthy, scholarly histories of baseball on my shelves here, all of which I read.

They were very useful, because, firstly, they opened up my eyes to the fact that the 100-year history of baseball was very similar ù there are tremendous parallels ù to a 100-year history of soccer. That is, baseball in the United States and soccer in England. Secondly, the research got me on very familiar terms with a lot of the key dates and key moments and key personalities of American sport, which I think was very useful.

You have talked before about the trap people fall into when they look at soccer by trying to force it into an American context …

As I see it, the trap is to feel that Americans are in some inexplicable way different from virtually everyone else in the world. And that this difference, whatever it is, means that Americans will never like soccer. It's a non-starter for me. I just don't believe that. Especially given the fact that Americans in a sense are everybody else, just a mixture of everybody else.

There's also an arrogance about that attitude, a ''we're-right-and-everyone-else-is-wrong'' elitism that is frankly unpleasant. The idea is that soccer is a foreign sport and that it will only succeed in the United States if it is altered and changed and twisted. I don't know what intellectual basis one could possibly have for making those statements. I don't hear anybody saying French wines are all very well but we've got to Americanize them. Then you don't have French wine anymore.

There is enough surely in soccer to satisfy most tastes. It is a very flexible game, one that has proved attractive to just about every population in the world. Including the USA ù the vast numbers now playing here are proof of that. That doesn't mean to say there aren't going to be plenty of people in the United States who don't like soccer. There are plenty people in England, or in Italy, who don't like it. And at times I don't like it.

Readers of your weekly ''SoccerTalk'' column in Soccer America have probably noticed that you are critical of coaches and their tactics. But in ''The Simplest Game'' you take an extensive look at the history of tactics, complete with diagrams …

I was never happy with the diagrams in the early editions because I don't like the idea of looking at soccer by reading charts. That's why in the last edition we replaced the ugly dots with little drawings of players to humanize the lineup diagrams. My objection to tactics is when they become the coach's central approach to a game. When they turn players into nothing more than wooden pieces moved around at the coach's whim.

The tendency to glorify the role of the coach at the expense of the player's contribution has been a very worrying one for quite a while now ù and I shall continue to be very critical of it and of the coaches who promote it. There is, of course, a fundamental dishonesty about their position because they, along with everyone else, are always at pains to point out that soccer is, must be, the players' game.

The book does include some practical dimensions, such as a soccer glossary, that, among other things, describes the difference between a bicycle kick and a scissors kick …

The glossary reflects a personal interest in words. I always get irritated by the misuse of words. I find I'm still getting upset at the ignorance of soccer terms, so I'm not sure how much good that glossary has done!

A great feature in ''The Simplest Game'' is when you visit three young players in three different countries. That's intended, I assume, to shed light on the youth game …

If you're going to cover a sport, my conviction is that you'd better cover the whole sport.

I'm not sure that too many writers who cover sports at the pro level continue to keep looking at the youth, high school or college level. OK, I get credentials to cover the World Cup and I've worked on national television ù that's all very glamorous, and it can seductively lead you away from the grassroots. A temptation to be resisted. I think it's tremendously important to keep in touch with the roots of the game. And they are interesting as well. In fact, I find myself having increasing interest in the youth game because it's purer, less cynical and less dominated by non-soccer concerns.

Unlike many journalists, you go to hundreds of games a year at all levels …

I don't know about hundreds, but I go to youth games, pro games, high school games, college games. In the winter, I go to indoor youth tournaments, which are an ideal place to meet and talk to people. I watch several games a week on TV.

Do you ever get sick of soccer?

Occasionally, but it is difficult to stay sick of soccer for long because it's such a multi-faceted sport, it comes in so many varieties. I do get sick of the increasing intrusion of the business side, the increasing emphasis of the sponsor side, and the many soccer-ignorant people who now flood into the game, like some dreadful opportunistic infection ù people whose interest is in those fringe areas, and not in the sport itself.

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This is the second of two parts.

This interview is published in conjunction with the launch of SoccerAmerica.com's new Book & Video Source. The Simplest Game can be ordered by clicking here. If you have already read this book and would like to post your own review, please click here. Be sure to watch the HOT News page for details on how you can talk back to the controversial ''Soccer Talk'' columnist and author, Paul Gardner.