About this episode

Leander Schaerlaeckens discusses his book on the history and challenges of the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team.

Leander Sharlockens joins us to discuss his new book about the US Men's National Team, The Long Game: U.S. Men's Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts, and we trace the uneven history of the U.S. men’s national team, from its early struggles and the 1950 win over England through the long period when the programme was underfunded and disorganised to today's hopes in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Patreon members get extra time: 15 more minutes, in which you get to see behind the scenes and find out how the book was written. You can subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/15MinuteBookClub Buy The Long Game: U.S. Men's Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts at our Bookshop.org shop. Support authors, indie bookshops and us! US Link: https://bookshop.org/a/118682/9780593653876 UK Amazon Link: https://amzn.eu/d/0el47ixp Visit our Bookshop with books from all of our guests via the links below: (UK) https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/15MinuteBookClub (US) https://bookshop.org/shop/15MinuteBookClub 0:00 Introduction to U.S. Soccer 3:17 Title IX’s Soccer Boom 6:19 From Glory to Collapse 7:34 Team America Disaster 10:28 Youth Soccer and…

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The 15 Minute Book Club podcast page.