In principle some players could play in both. I'd be surprised. The clubs most likely would object. And the players DO need a break between seasons. If we proceed from the assumption that they will be two separate teams do we prioritize one over the other. Doing so would maximize our chances of going deep into one of the tournaments. But at the cost of weakening our team for the other competition. Right now I would lean toward sending roughly equally strong teams to both tournaments.
Since the Olympics for men's soccer is a virtually meaningless, useless and bastardized tournament it makes no sense to prioritize it at all. I wish the USA men's side would not even go as all it does is act as a money maker for the Olympic big wigs. Of course that changes if they make the Olympics either a fully adult tournament or make it a true U23 tournament.
Nobody cares about the Olympics, and our best players probably wouldn’t get released anyway. The Copa is going to be a very important experience. If anything, I would err on the side of taking younger fringe players who project to be on the 26 in 2026 over someone like Zimmerman who will probably be too old by then.
It's myopic to say no one cares about the Olympics. It gets a lot of attention from folks who don't care about a particular sport until the Olympics. A medal there would bring a lot of positive attention. Neymar wanted to play as do a lot of the (usually non-Euros). Part of why the women's team is so popular is because of Olympic golds.
I'd say a deep run in the Olympics is as good a barometer of success as a deep run in Copa and probably would garner more public attention, TV ratings, etc.
The women's team is popular but not "because" of the Olympics. Their popularity comes from winning important tournaments and having good entertainment value and filling a gap is "watchable" sports for ladies and girls. I would say that international soccer suffers from the presence of the bastardized rules that FIFA insists are implemented in order to allow soccer into the mix. Fortunately FIFA made little attempt to bastardize the women's side, they thought it would fail, so the Olympics are not the negative for the women it is for the men. As I think a bit more I think we should pick 23 low rated college players that are under 23 and send them. Then, if we happen to win a match, we would have a real bragging point.
i would prioritize the olympics as much as possible. i would play guys at their age-level as much as possible in general- the cream is already at the top. thats the only upside of our less-than-planned reset this last cycle. obviously we arent going to have close to the team we "could" cause clubs arent going to release players 8 of the 9 "biggest players", but what i mean by prioritizing is both sending all the olympic-eligible players who are released there in addition to the best possible overage players (whos clubs will allow) rather than the standard "experienced" vet. id much rather send adams than acosta to the olympics, or weah rather than arriola for example. i think getting our youth players (not that this is especially youthful- its above the mean age of our core sr players) experience in a real comp where they can actually compete is more important than copa. p aaronson, for example- however skilled he is hes just not physically ready for what we will see at the copa.
I think it would be pretty cool as an athlete to win an olympic medal and experience all that goes with the olympics from an athletic perspective. Opening ceremonies, other athletes from all over and closing ceremonies etc. I would say send a pretty solid U23 team with guys that may not play in the Copa. I'd probably priortize the Copa but I think they could send a pretty good team to the Olympics too. We have a lot of guys under 23 to choose from. You could send Ferreira, Pepi, and Hoppe or even Dike to the Olympics for example. Although I'm not sure if it's 23 and under or under 23 as Dike could be 23 when the olympics happen.
The Olympic Soccer is an U23 tourney for the men, with up to 3 overage players. The US can prioritize both. Also, the US has to qualify for the Copa via Nations League......so it's not guaranteed they will even play in the Copa. WAs far as the Olympics not being an important part of the USwNT's popularity? It's literally 50% of the major tournaments they play in. So I'd say it's a pretty big factor in their popularity.
The idea on bigsoccer that nobody cares about the Olympics is one of the things that I really disagree with. I care about the Olympics. The player definitely care. And if the US plays in the gold medal game the American public will care. An Olympic gold medal would probably garner more public interest than a Copa America victory. Argentina cares. Mexico and Brazil care. So what if Germany doesn’t take it seriously? They didn’t take the last World Cup seriously either.
Do the two pools really overlap that much at this point in time? Olympics is U-23 right? That hasn’t changed. I feel like a perfectly good and fine team of over 23 year olds can go to Copa and a perfectly good and fine team of U-23/U-20’s can go to the Olympics.
Good idea and would probably work except the Olympics are not a FIFA sanctioned tournament because they allow three over age players. Assuming our top players believe in the Olympics and want to go then US soccer would have to choose some to go and most not to go, breeding resentment. Or they can approach some players and tell them that they will not be going to the Olympics , again breeding resentment. Or they can just pick the 10 or 15 best players and then, in some random manner, choose the three overage players and make that announcement at the last possible moment. Or ... I could go on for several thousand lines. Best, IMO, is pick the 23 (or whatever roster size the Copa America allow) that we want to represent the USA at the Copa America and then throw everyone else into the "pool" to chose for the Olympics. Only after the first group is picked are players considered for the second. That is there is one pool for the Copa America and Olympics and after the Copa squad is picked a second roster is picked for the Olympics. Only after the Copa side is picked should age be used as a criteria. I think that or something similar will actually be used but who knows and USA soccer will probably never tell.
There are likely going to be some players who prefer to play in one or the other. I could see some overage players lobbying to be one of the three on the Olympic team.
The men's soccer tournament of the summer Olympics doesn't get a lot of attention, and won't get a lot of attention just because we're there. It's overshadowed significantly by the gymnastics meet, the basketball tournament, the track meet, the swim meet, and, um, the women's football tournament.
now show their Copa America celebrations. of course the players who compete are going to be glad that they won, but the tournament itself is a joke. It’s literally a youth tournament (with youth coaches), most of the best players don’t play, and the competition is lopsided. Mexico has done well on multiple occasions because their fed is one of the few to release their top players, and their 21-22 year olds are generally not good enough to be in Europe. Teams like that, and the few countries that get a few legit stars do well. I don’t want our guys getting embarrassed, but if a Paredes or booth could be at the Copa (which will be an excellent simulation of the World Cup atmosphere), then I don’t want them playing at a second rate youth tournament.
I think at least one of our best overage players (Pulisic, McKennie, Adams) will lobby to be on the Olympic team.
Not to argue about, uh, facts I guess, but Messi was furiously lobbying Barcelona to go. Pulisic deeply wanted to play in the 2020 Olympics (had the US had the decency to actually qualify). Pogba wants to play in 2024. You look at each Olympics and there are routinely greats or near-greats. Neymar, Pedri. The idea that the Olympics are uncared for is bizarrely persistent and totally at odds with the strenuous efforts of stars to get on their country's team.
Yes, a few guys would like to go. Fewer of them do. FIFA and the clubs make certain that few of them participate, and that they're surrounded mostly by U23s that are deemed expendable by the clubs. It simply isn't a high level tournament, not on the level of the Copa. Not even on the level of say the U20 World Cup. It's a minor youth tournament of the least-important age-restricted level attached to a major sporting event. The Copa is important, and that tournament will have more eyeballs on it than the men's Olympic football tournament will. The most important players all need to be there. The best that we can get for the Olympics otherwise should go there.
I could see one or all of those guys on the team. Not sure if the allure is there for Dest, but he could be involved. Maybe Chris Richards too. Musah, Pepi, and Reyna could all be involved too given their age.
The Olympics are a cool event that is bigger than just soccer where these guys can go and be kings and mingle with other athletes. Sounds really fun to me.
A few guys like to go, like, uh, possibly the greatest of all time, some of the other greatest players of their generation, you know, insignificant players like that. Is this really an argument you think is tenable?
I'd add in close situations (there might not be any) between a U23 and over 23 for the Copa America squad, pick the over 23 and send the U23 to the Olympics. Like if deciding the backup LB was between Dejuan Jones and Tolkin, pick Jones for the senior NT and Tolkin for the Olympics.
Mostly prioritize Copa…but any Olympic eligible guys who occupy the last 3 roster spots should go start in the Olympics rather than sit at the Copa. If I had to choose one to win, it’d probably be the Olympics, because that will resonate far more with the public.