The 2024 Olympics begin this week, and the United States Men’s Olympic Team are back in the field. For the first time in 16 years, the Olympic Men’s Football Tournament will include the USMNT U-23s, which is a cause for celebration.
It had been a long time coming for the team to qualify again after Beijing 2008, with a lot of setbacks and heartbreak. Thanks to the USMNT U-20s winning the Concacaf U-20 Championship in 2022, this team of 18 players and four alternates gets to arrive in France as Olympians.
Since the Olympics shifted on the men’s side to being a U-23 tournament (with up to three overage players) in 1992, the United States have not had much success:
Barcelona 1992: Group Stage
Atlanta 1996: Group Stage
Sydney 2000: 4th Place
Athens 2004: Did Not Qualify
Beijing 2008: Group Stage
London 2012: Did Not Qualify
Rio 2016: Did Not Qualify
Tokyo 2020: Did Not Qualify
In eight tournaments, the team failed to qualify for four of them. Only once did they qualify for the knockout stage, which was in 2000 when they lost to Chile in the Bronze Medal match. They’re hoping to get out of the group this time around and reintroduce themselves to the Olympic stage in a big way.
The USMNT U-23s are 2W-1L-2D in 2024, with their only loss coming against fellow Olympic participants Japan in a home friendly last month. Since arriving in France, they have had two friendlies to prepare for the Olympics: against Paraguay, a 1-0 win with a goal from Duncan McGuire; and against Spain, which resulted in a 1-1 draw with a goal from Taylor Booth.
What needs to happen to win a medal
To win a medal in France, the USMNT U-23s have to figure out a way to come together in several areas with their play. First, the defense needs to be sound. In a couple of instances this year, the team has been disorganized defensively, leading to a lot of shaky moments and goals conceded. The United States have to figure out their assignments, and they need to be steady. The hope is that overage players Walker Zimmerman and Miles Robinson – who have partnered together on the senior national team – will be able to bring steady play to the backline and a veteran presence to the lineup.
The U-23s need to be able to score, and while many of the players on the roster have been together for head coach Marko Mitrović in the lead up to the Olympics, they’ve only scored more than 2 goals in a match twice. The forwards and wingers have to be able to get forward and open up spaces, and they need to figure out how to get shots on goal.
Finally, the great thing about this team is that many of these players have been in intense environments before. Still, the Olympics are a stage none of them have seen before outside of Walker Zimmerman, who was on the USMNT for the 2022 World Cup. Their opening match will be against the hosts France, who are one of the favorites to win the tournament, and it only gets tougher from there. If they can remain calm and cool under the pressure-filled lights of the Olympics, they can get to the knockout stage and put themselves in position to go for a medal.
Will they do win gold?
Realistically, it’s a long shot for this team to win gold in France. They have never won Olympic gold, and the last time they won a medal was in 1904. Outside of the 4th place finish in 2000, the last time the team made it to the knockout stage was 1956. For a team that hasn’t been in the Olympics in 16 years, it would be an incredible achievement to win a medal. The house money is getting out of the group and seeing from there if they can do some damage.
