Olympic team question

[Calarky]

Is the olympic team mostly the same group of guys from the WC or do they do the baseball thing and get crappy inexperienced players? And also what is the best we have ever done in the olympics soccer wise? Thanx

[Jayhawk]

The olympics is mainly a developmental tournament for soccer. They can have either 3 or 4 senior players, the rest must be under 23 years old.

[Davids26]

3 Senior players, mostly made up of the guys from the U-20 team in 2001.

[Jayhawk]

I think the US has made the Olympic semi in Atlanta, but don't quote me on it. I don't know how we did in Sidney.

[BuffloSoldier]

Originally posted by Jayhawk
I think the US has made the Olympic semi in Atlanta, but don't quote me on it. I don't know how we did in Sidney.
They didn't make it out of the first round in Atlanta, 1996.

Fourth place in Sydney, 2000.

[flanoverseas]

Originally posted by BuffloSoldier

They didn't make it out of the first round in Atlanta, 1996.

Fourth place in Sydney, 2000. he did say don't quote him

[Maczebus]

Originally posted by Jayhawk
I think the US has made the Olympic semi in Atlanta, but don't quote me on it. I don't know how we did in Sidney.

Further to the 2000 and 1996 results as posted by buffalo:

1992 - Knocked out first round.(3rd in group)
1988 - Knocked out first round.(Bottom of group)
1984 - Knocked out first round.(3rd in group)
1980 - Boycott
1976 - Not there
1972 - Knocked out first round.(Bottom of group)
1968 - Not there
1964 - Not there
1960 - Not there
1956 - Got a bye to the second round then got beaten 9-1 by Yugoslavia
1952 - Knocked out in prelims.(Ita 8-0 US)
1948 - Knocked out first round.(Ita 9-0 US)
1936 - Knocked out first round.(Ita 1-0 US)
1928 - Knocked out first round.(Arg 11-2 US)
1924 - Knocked out first round.(Uru 3-0 US)

US didn't enter earlier Olympics football tournaments.

[Jayhawk]

I stand corrected. Thought I was probably wrong about results anyway.

[The Wanderer]

Originally posted by Calarky
Is the olympic team mostly the same group of guys from the WC or do they do the baseball thing and get crappy inexperienced players? And also what is the best we have ever done in the olympics soccer wise? Thanx

Why don't you go check in the junior team forum to check out who's got a chance to play for us in 2004.

[Soccer-Six-Shooter]

The rule should be all players under 23. Dont mix it up with senior players. Who comes up with bonehead rules?

[slip2break]

Originally posted by Soccer-Six-Shooter
The rule should be all players under 23. Dont mix it up with senior players. Who comes up with bonehead rules?

I believe it stems from the disagreement between the Olympics and FIFA a few years back. The Olympic's wanted to field the National Teams and FIFA said that it woud be like having a World Cup every two years. When it was clear that the Olympic's were seriously considering the idea, FIFA countered with the threat to hold the WC every two years, on Olympic years.

I believe having three "professionals" per squad, was part of the compromise the two organizations reached as a result of the above despute. Can anyone verify this info?

-r

[Newman]

In addition to the U-23 stipulation, I believe that players that played in previous Olympics as underage players, count as an overage for their 2nd olympics regardless of their age. This affects Donovan, but not sure who else-did DMB play in Sydney?

[MassachusettsRef]

Originally posted by slip2break


I believe it stems from the disagreement between the Olympics and FIFA a few years back. The Olympic's wanted to field the National Teams and FIFA said that it woud be like having a World Cup every two years. When it was clear that the Olympic's were seriously considering the idea, FIFA countered with the threat to hold the WC every two years, on Olympic years.

I believe having three "professionals" per squad, was part of the compromise the two organizations reached as a result of the above despute. Can anyone verify this info?
That's more or less what happened, though I'm not sure as to whether or not there was an actual threat of hosting the WC every two years for this reason.

It came down to the Olympics wanting the best players in the world to make their soccer event more attractive. FIFA was against it because it would detract from the WC. The compromise was to allow 3 overage players from each nation, thereby allowing marquee players to participate, but not making it a true World Championship.

[Sandon Mibut]

*The Athens Olympics in 2004 will be for players born on or after July 1, 1981.

*There is no longer a restriction on playing in multiple Olympics as an "of-age" player. Thus Landon Donovan and Conor Casey will not take up one of the 3 over-age spots in Athens.

*DaMarcus Beasley was not on the team in Athens though he did play on the U23 team in Olympic qualifying.

*Speaking of qualifying, over-age players are not used during qualifying, therefore, the 18-players used in qualifying must all be U23.

*The Olympics went to a U23 format beginning in 1992. The "over-age" players were added in 96. As stated before, this was a compromise bewteen the IOC and FIFA. The IOC loves the Olympics because its played in big stadiums which means big revenue and the IOC is even a bigger bunch of money grubbers than the thieves at FIFA.

For its part, FIFA doesn't want its cash cow, the World Cup, to take a back seat to anything, especially the Olympics, therefore they didn't santion using "full" national teams in the Olympics. What we have now is the resulting compromise.

*Plenty of threads about the Olympic team, and other youth national teams, over on the Youth National Teams board. All are welcome.

[rufus55]

Will Taylor Twellman be eligible?

[Popero]

He was born in 1980, so I wouldn't think so.

[jd6885]

Does anyone really take the Olympics seriously? Why not just make it the official U-23 championships?

[slip2break]

Originally posted by jd6885
Does anyone really take the Olympics seriously? Why not just make it the official U-23 championships?

I agree..... then atleast it would serve some purpose.

[352klr]

Originally posted by jd6885
Does anyone really take the Olympics seriously? Why not just make it the official U-23 championships?

Italy took the Sydney Games so seriously they moved back the start of Serie A for it. Brasil took it serious enough that it was basically the last straw for Luzemburgo(he coached the NT and Olympic teams at the same time). So, basically, countries take it pretty seriously.

[Maczebus]

Originally posted by jd6885
Does anyone really take the Olympics seriously?

Well England don't send a team so obviously it's not worth having.
;)