Wow! eBook
The Long Game: U.S. Men's Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts
Author(s): Leander Schaerlaeckens (Author)
- Publisher: Viking
- Publication Date: May 12, 2026
- Language: English
- Print length: 384 pages
- ISBN-10: 0593653874
- ISBN-13: 9780593653876
Book Description
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.Editorial Reviews
Review
“If you love
The Ball Is Round or Simon Kuper’s Soccer Against the Enemy or anything by Franklin Foer, you are going to love [The Long Game]. . . . Buy one for every single room in your home.”—Taylor Rockwell, “The Total Soccer Show”
“Cannot recommend this book highly enough—even though I am only a semi-reformed USMNT hater, I devoured it. It’s the best thing written about the team—insightful, really funny, exceptionally reported. If you have any interest in the U.S. men’s team at all, read this book!”
—Alex Shephard, via Bluesky
“The best review I could possibly give: my sister and I were talking about the book *near* our other sister and we accidentally convinced her to read it before the World Cup begins. Terrific read whether you’re a USMNT obsessive or just a fan of great stories.”
“[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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
—Stefan Fatsis, New York Times bestselling author of Word Freak and A Few Seconds of Panic
