Best Seller

The Long Game

Name: The Long Game
Price: 17.99 USD
Availability: PreOrder
Author: Leander Schaerlaeckens
ISBN: 9780593653883

Ebook

Available on May 12, 2026 | 384 Pages

Preorder from:

Available on May 12, 2026 | 384 Pages

Preorder from:

The gripping account of the U.S. men’s national soccer team’s winding saga from obscurity to the global stage as they stand on the brink of a seminal World Cup in 2026

For almost half a century, the U.S. men’s national team existed on the fringes of world soccer—out of sight, out of mind, and, more often than not, out of the World Cup. Between 1950 and 1990, the program toiled in irrelevance, a collection of part-timers playing before empty bleachers.

Then, things began to shift, and today’s U.S. men’s team is loaded with young and pedigreed talent, expected to make its mark at the 2026 World Cup. The story of this team’s rise to prominence is a dramatic journey, with setbacks, buffoonery, misunderstandings, glory, and a wide, eccentric, talented cast of characters. With unprecedented access to former and current national team players, coaches, and administrators, Schaerlaeckens traces the sport’s evolution in the U.S.—from its outsider status to its modern foothold—and the challenges that have shaped the men’s national team along the way. From systemic obstacles in youth development to an American sports culture that expects instant dominance, he explores why success has been elusive, and why that might finally be changing.

With insight, wit, and razor-sharp storytelling, The Long Game is an unforgettable look at the past, present, and uncertain future of American soccer— and the team that could redefine it all.

Advance Praise for The Long Game:

“[Schaerlaeckens] vividly chronicles the tumultuous journey of American men’s soccer by placing the team’s recent rise in the context of decades of institutional disorganization and on-field struggles. Fans will find this a boon.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Well-researched. . . . Enlightening. . . . Schaerlaeckens smartly blends accounts of key tournaments with locker-room color. He notes that a love triangle involving two 1990s American stars didn’t exactly help team chemistry; nor did superstar coach Jürgen Klinsmann’s unaccountable decision to cut high-scoring Landon Donovan in 2014. . . . An authoritative, strenuously timely history of America’s efforts to compete with traditional soccer powerhouses.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“The United States has put a man on the moon and invented such important technologies as the beer helmet. But we are yet to work out how to develop a Men’s Football team who, in the modern period, can challenge the world’s best. If you want to know why, this book tells the tale, rife with pioneering, yearning, and self-sabotage.”
—Roger Bennett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of (Re)born in the USA

“Leander Schaerlaeckens has put in the hours over many years to tell the story of the USMNT in all its fabulous diversity, with many lows and quite a few highs, ahead of what might be the biggest moment in the team’s history.”
—Simon Kuper, co-author of Soccernomics

“A sharp, thorough, and vastly entertaining tour of the adventures and misadventures of men’s soccer in the United States. Leander Schaerlaeckens has written the history of the U.S. Men’s National Team that American soccer fans need.”
—Brian Phillips, New York Times bestselling author of Impossible Owls

“From Billy Gonsalves to Dent McSkimming to Paul Caligiuri to Christian Pulisic—and every character, drama, celebration, and humiliation in between—The Long Game is the definitive account of the rollercoaster ride of American men’s soccer on the world stage. With his behind-the-scenes reporting and clear-eyed prose, Schaerlaeckens shows that, when it comes to the USMNT, you have to be a true believer and a skeptic all at once.”
—Stefan Fatsis, New York Times bestselling author of Word Freak and A Few Seconds of Panic

On Tour

Author

Leander Schaerlaeckens

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a long-time soccer writer and has worked for ESPN, FOX Sports, and Yahoo Sports, among others, covering the United States men’s national team at three World Cups. He currently writes about soccer for The Guardian and The Ringer. He teaches journalism and sports communication at Marist University. Born in the Netherlands and raised in Belgium, he went to college in London and Washington, D.C. He lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with his wife, son, and their mutt/squirrel-murderer, Eleanor Roosevelt

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The Long Game

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By Leander Schaerlaeckens On Tour