Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
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leanderalphabet.bsky.social
Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
@leanderalphabet.bsky.social
You can now pre-order my book on the United States men's national soccer team! https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130/the-long-game-by-leander-schaerlaeckens/

Senior lecturer, Marist University.

Soccer contributor, The Guardian + The Ringer.

🇺🇸🇳🇱
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🚨🚨You can now pre-order my book, THE LONG GAME, on the United States men's national soccer team and its messy rise from total international irrelevance to, well, TBD!🚨🚨

I spoke to ~150 players/coaches/etc. and got fresh stories and unprecedented access!

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130...
The Long Game by Leander Schaerlaeckens: 9780593653876 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
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,...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
The International Criminal Court in The Hague has begun proceedings to try Brian in absentia. A crowd of justice-seeking citizens gathers outside the gates to cheer the decision.
November 25, 2025 at 11:21 PM
It's here. The explainer Brian was born to write.
November 25, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Reposted by Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
And please consider becoming a Patreon member to @scuffed.bsky.social , as I did. It's terrific value for money for some of the most insightful and incisive coverage of the #USMNT around.

patreon.com/scuffed?utm_...
Get more from Scuffed Soccer Podcast on Patreon
Creating in-depth American soccer analysis and commentary
patreon.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Reposted by Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
I went on @scuffed.bsky.social to talk all things #USMNT and my book on the same subject:

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Oh, and you can preorder the book here, thanks for asking! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130...
#649: Leander Schaerlaeckens on the state of the USMNT, its chaotic history & miraculous growth since the 1980s
Podcast Episode · Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America · 11/24/2025 · 1h 18m
podcasts.apple.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Knowing exactly how many yards from goal the ball is is MLS heritage imo
November 25, 2025 at 3:31 AM
I went on @scuffed.bsky.social to talk all things #USMNT and my book on the same subject:

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Oh, and you can preorder the book here, thanks for asking! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130...
#649: Leander Schaerlaeckens on the state of the USMNT, its chaotic history & miraculous growth since the 1980s
Podcast Episode · Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America · 11/24/2025 · 1h 18m
podcasts.apple.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Everton decided that playing 11-v-11 had just gotten too easy for them
Everton are up 1-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford after an Everton player was sent off for slapping his own teammate. Absolute cinema. ✋😯🤚
Idrissa Gana Gueye sent off for slapping the shit out of his own teammate 13 minutes into a Premier League match. 😲 #Everton
November 24, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Somehow, you knew that was going in before Lavelle had even hit it
November 23, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Loved this from John
Sergio Busquets is old and slow. By next month he'll be retired. So how is he still so central to one of the best teams in MLS?

Wrote for The Guardian about trying to measure a famously invisible kind of greatness.
As his career ends in MLS, Sergio Busquets’ small decisions remain perfect
The Spaniard’s style of possession football is not easily defined by stats and data. We tried to do so anyway
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
Leander's a great writer and a great dude, and he's got a great book (that he let me read beforehand because I'm special!) on the history of the USMNT coming out soon. You should order it!
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130...
November 19, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
Will never stop being funny that the USMNT brought in an expensive foreign coach with a Champions League pedigree to tell us that tactics are for dorks and we just need more MLS guys and hustle
November 19, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
The #USMNT ends 2025 in a far better place than it might have reasonably hoped to at the close of 2024.

My column on a tumultuous year that ended on an unimaginable high on Tuesday: the 5-1 battering of a genuine world power.

@theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Pochettino’s first full USMNT year started shakily. It ends with real World Cup hope
The USMNT coach took charge of a team in flux and initially looked like he would feed that uncertainty. But his foundations are starting to look solid
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:32 PM
The #USMNT ends 2025 in a far better place than it might have reasonably hoped to at the close of 2024.

My column on a tumultuous year that ended on an unimaginable high on Tuesday: the 5-1 battering of a genuine world power.

@theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Pochettino’s first full USMNT year started shakily. It ends with real World Cup hope
The USMNT coach took charge of a team in flux and initially looked like he would feed that uncertainty. But his foundations are starting to look solid
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:32 PM
This World Cup is going to be so big that the Kingdom of the Netherlands is sending multiple teams.
CURACAO HAS MADE THEIR FIRST WORLD CUP
November 19, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
Friends, you don't even have to give your money to fash-curious billionaires. You can just as easily @bookshop.org it. But I thank you either way.

bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
November 19, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Be like Hucklebuckets and reluctantly give in
November 19, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Reposted by Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
I'll be reading this from somewhere in either Ireland and Germany to avoid the world cup chaos.
November 17, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Reposted by Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
Pre-order a copy for your household every time there’s a friendly between now and the World Cup next summer.

The next friendly is Tuesday night, the U.S. vs Uruguay.

Those are the rules.* Hey, we didn’t make ‘em!

*FIFA receives no commission on any sale of this book.
November 17, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
On Gio Reyna and Sergiño Dest and players who can make the difference for the United States men's national team at the World Cup next summer when the fine margins require a moment of individual brilliance.

Column @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Gio Reyna and Sergiño Dest: X-factors that could fuel the USMNT World Cup
With returns to fitness and form, Mauricio Pochettino has two creative players capable of fine flashes to overcome difficulty
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
Lost in Translation (2003)
November 17, 2025 at 2:46 AM
On Gio Reyna and Sergiño Dest and players who can make the difference for the United States men's national team at the World Cup next summer when the fine margins require a moment of individual brilliance.

Column @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Gio Reyna and Sergiño Dest: X-factors that could fuel the USMNT World Cup
With returns to fitness and form, Mauricio Pochettino has two creative players capable of fine flashes to overcome difficulty
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Leander **PRE-ORDER THE LONG GAME** Schaerlaeckens
Mauricio Pochettino has spent most of 2025 looking for options. On Saturday, he found another. And it's a big one.

www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Gio Reyna marks USMNT return with goal in 2-1 win over Paraguay
The Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder scored on an early header for the US, who next play Uruguay on Tuesday in Tampa, Florida
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 12:25 AM