The under-23 U.S. men’s soccer team participated in its first Olympics match in 16 years on Wednesday, as soccer at the 2024 Summer Olympics started a bit earlier than the Opening Ceremony, which will be held on Friday. The U.S. men’s national team (USMNT) took on France’s under-23 team, which meant no Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann, or any of the other familiar names of French soccer.
But even with the playing field somewhat leveled with Olympic soccer restricted to players aged 23 and younger, the United States was outclassed in every way possible in a 3–0 defeat—a less than ideal start to the Olympic journey.
Although significant in itself, the score only tells part of the story. It is the biggest defeat of U.S. men’s soccer at the Olympics in 50 years, dating back to the 1972 Summer Olympics in Germany. Then, the host nation, known as West Germany, defeated the USMNT 7–0 in a group-stage match in Munich. The under-23 restriction didn’t start until 1992, so that defeat featured the United States’ best players at the time.
Wednesday’s loss wasn’t as one-sided, but the French dominated in just about every area. They won time of possession and had more shot attempts, more shots on goal, four times as many corner kicks, and three times as many saves. The United States actually kept the game scoreless through the first hour, until a French barrage led to three goals over the next 25 minutes.
The defensive letup is a huge disappointment for the United States considering that every team is allowed three players older than 23, and two of those three that the U.S. selected were defenders. Walker Zimmerman, 31, and Miles Robinson, 27, who have a combined 71 caps for the senior USMNT, were the two center-backs in a 4-3-3 alignment. But France was still able to penetrate what’s considered a strength of Team USA with its three quick goals.
The other overage American was 25-year-old midfielder Djordje Mihailovic, who had 11 caps with the senior squad and got the start on the left wing.
Compounding the allowance of the three goals is who scored them for France. The first came from one of France’s overage players, Alexandre Lacazette, in the 61st minute, as did the last by Loïc Badé in the 85th minute. In between, 22-year-old Michael Olise notched the team’s second goal. So, one team’s overage players looked exactly how they should have looked—like the best players on the field—while the other team’s overage players were left searching for answers.
That also appeared to be what U.S. Coach Marko Mitrovic was doing after the game. He was addressing reporters on what went wrong for his team and essentially gave “you have days like this,” as the reason for the poor performance.
“Football is a very specific and special game, you know? I think that just creating opportunities is a great thing,” Mitrovic said. “Obviously, you want to convert these opportunities. Some days, everything goes in your favor, and some days it doesn’t go. I don’t think that they had opportunities besides shots outside of the box. … For us, we didn’t convert. But you have days like this. We have to move on.”
This was the first Olympic soccer match for the U.S. men’s team since the 2008 Olympics, as the U.S. failed to qualify for each of the last three Games. For the 2020 Olympics, the USMNT loss to Honduras in the semifinals of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) qualifiers denied them the opportunity to go to Tokyo, while they also lost to Honduras in the semis for the 2016 CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers. For the 2012 Games, the United States failed to make it out of the group stage of the CONCACAF qualifiers. To make matters worse, the United States was the host nation for both the 2012 and 2016 qualifiers.
There were some positives from Wednesday’s loss, including the play of forward Paxten Aaronson. The 20-year-old was the youngest starter for the U.S. team, but he didn’t look his age. He had three shots, including the team’s only shot on goal in his 76 minutes. Additionally, midfield captain Tanner Tessmann held his own over the full 90, as he was the only front six player to log 90 minutes for the Americans.
With New Zealand defeating Guinea 2–1 in the other match in Group A, the United States sits in last place in its group after the first match day, with third-place Guinea owning a two-goal advantage in goal differential. France is atop the group, with New Zealand second. Only the top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage.
The U.S. team has two days to regroup before taking to the pitch on Saturday against New Zealand. The Americans will then close out group play against Guinea on July 30. If they manage to dig their way out of this hole and advance beyond group play, they will take part in quarterfinals action on Aug. 2.
