It always hurts more when you know a medal was within reach.
The US men’s Olympic soccer team—mostly a U-23 squad with three “overage” players allowed to compete—fell 4-0 to Morocco in the quarterfinals Friday, preventing the stars and stripes from reaching a medal game.
This US team had a legitimate (i.e. not wishful) chance to make history. The US men’s soccer program has never won an Olympic medal since the sport was added to the Games in 1992. In fact, until 2024, the US had missed as many Olympics as they had qualified for. Paris 2024 was the U-23 team’s first Olympic appearance since 2008 and the team’s best-ever finish was fourth place in the 2000 Sydney Games. That tournament was so long ago that NBC color commentator Tim Howard served as Brad Friedel’s backup, having not yet won the starting job for the national team he’d go on to make 121 appearances for.
Team USA entered its knockout match against Morocco brimming with confidence. The team shrugged off a 3-0 loss to hosts France—whose best U-23 team could probably make a World Cup quarterfinal, after all—and slapped New Zealand and Guinea 4-1 and 3-0, respectively, in the latter two group games.
Djordje Mihailovic, one of the overage stars brought in, had justified his inclusion with two goals (one penalty) and an assist. Right winger Kevin Paredes, who started 15 matches for Wolfsburg in 2023-24, also collected a pair of goals and an assist. The attack was humming. Surely Morocco, even with Achraf Hakimi, couldn’t stop that?
Wrong. Dead wrong.
The Atlas Lions (does any country have a cooler national team nickname than Morocco? Maybe the Nigerian Super Eagles) outclassed the US up and down the pitch. In the first half, they dominated possession and played through the US centrally, while restricting the Americans to counterattacks and wing play exclusively. With Hakimi pushing high and wide, US left back John Tolkin was tortured, having to choose between tracking the Moroccan right back down the touchline or tucking inside to mark Ilias Akhomach, formerly of Barcelona’s La Masia.
The penalty against US right back Nathan Harriel may have been controversial to some (though not I), but Morocco’s halftime lead nonetheless reflected their superior play; The US didn’t have a shot on target in the first half, while Morocco created four.
Tactical wizards will be able to point out the areas where the US lost the match more precisely than I, but I think it really comes down to intensity and precision. Morocco had it; The US didn’t. American captain Tanner Tessman looked entirely off the pace at the Parc des Princes after making the US tick in their previous wins. It might have been a long season catching up with him, but these days, every top-level footballer plays long seasons.
With the Olympics following a thoroughly disappointing Copa América for the US men’s national team, head coach Marko Mitrović's team had an opportunity to restore confidence in the program’s direction.
Make it to the semifinals, and you have a chance to play for a medal. And with a strong showing, some of these younger players, be it Tessman or Paredes or even the slightly older Mihailovic, might’ve found themselves fast-tracked into a prominent role for the senior team with momentum.
Instead, this group leaves Paris with a 2-2 record, having conceded more goals (eight) than they scored (seven).
Unlike this year’s Copa América team, the US Olympic squad was not a complete disaster, so I suppose I should hand them that. Some of these players, Tessman and Paredes almost certainly among them, will have long futures with the USMNT.
But from a player-for-player perspective, Morocco was beatable. And in the knockout stages of international tournaments, the US doesn’t play that many obviously beatable opponents. The Netherlands, at the 2022 World Cup, were not obviously beatable. Neither would Colombia have been in the Copa, had the US advanced in Panama’s place.
The US has to take these opportunities when they arise. And in Paris, take it, they did not.