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.

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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 Dropout

11:51 A Country, Not a Nation

13:53 Europe Beckons American Players

16:33 Adu’s Rise and Fall

17:56 Choosing the Book’s Profiles

19:45 The Berhalter Debate

21:24 World Cup Expectations

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

Watch the video version: https://www.youtube.com/@15MinuteBook_Club

Buy [INSERT BOOK TITLE] at our Bookshop.org shop. Support authors, indie bookshops and us!

UK Link:

US Link:

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

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