Canada and Australia have already pulled out. USA Track and USA Swimming calling for a postponement. I don't know what's gonna happen but I know what's not gonna happen and that's no Games in late July. What this means for Olympic soccer and, specifically, the US U23 team I have no idea. But with Gold Cup and the U20 World Cup next year, if it's postponed a year the top US players ain't going to the Olympics. At this point, very little would surprise me including FIFA dropping soccer from the Olympics, allowing any senior-age players with fewer than X-caps (10 or so) to having the U20 WC be part of the Olympics next year.
Dick Pound (easily up there with Tommy Thompson for the greatest name of all time lmfao) has announced that the olympics has been postponed.
Dick Pound (easily up there with Tommy Thompson for the greatest name of all time[/QUOTE] You've got Dick Pound tied with ... Tommy Thompson at the top of your greatest names of all time list? Who's #3, some dude named Todd Brown?
You've got Dick Pound tied with ... Tommy Thompson at the top of your greatest names of all time list? Who's #3, some dude named Todd Brown? [/QUOTE] number 3 is Scoochie Smith who made a NCAA tournament elite 8 run with Dayton
NEW USSOCCER CEO ANNOUNCED AT 4PM ET TODAY I chose to put it on here because with the olympics news this page will get the most traffic
Will Wilson it is. https://www.si.com/soccer/2020/03/23/us-soccer-ceo-will-wilson Wilson, 52, comes to U.S. Soccer from the Wasserman sports agency, where he was an executive vice-president and co-head of football for the last eight years. He’s an uncle of Andrew Luck, whom he signed as Wasserman’s first American football client in 2012. PS: In a month, looking at the numbers, whether there is an Olympics or not will be the last of our problems.
WILLIAM WILSON NAMED CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND SECRETARY GENERAL OF U.S. SOCCER FEDERATION https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...and-secretary-general-of-us-soccer-federation
And... official. https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/28946033/tokyo-olympics-officially-postponed-2021
We need them to keep the 97's. Without that age group CB depth will be ridiculously thin and the roster will be hurting as well because the Gold Cup and U20 World Cup will have roster preference over the olympics. We won't get to see the best team that we have been wanting to see for 8 years in the Olympics sadly.
The Olympics were a major distraction that was harming our WCQ'ing chances. If soccer ever is played again, then the distraction being gone is good. It already seems like USSF was deprioritizing the Olympics. The acual Olympic team, had we qualified, would have been even weaker than the qualifying team as all MLS teams would have probably denied the release of important players. We would have sent a team of USL and NCAA players.
So, MLS clubs were fine releasing these players for qualifying but wouldn’t have been releasing them for the Olympics? That’s an enormous amount of assumption.
Even if we can't get our "A" or "B" team, a tournament like the Olympics is always valuable as a developmental tool. As folks know, I'm also in favor of the US playing in the PanAm Games, the Toulon Tournament, or any competition we can get our hands on. I don't care if we have to send all NCAA players or DA players. If you identify one player in these settings that moves forward in the pool, then its a worthwhile endeavor. And a great experience for the players. Yes, next summer (if there is a next summer)……………..is going to be incredibly jampacked with events. Our pool is big enough now to accommodate the events. If Reggie Cannon won't be available for the U23s from now on, then Kyle Duncan steps to the plate. We can do this. We talk all the time about how much bigger our player pool is. We can argue about the talent in the pool, but there's no question the pool is much bigger. So I s suspect that once we get thru the whole coronavirus situation, our USSF staff will begin negotiating behind the scenes with clubs. An interesting question is whether Jason Kreis continues as coach of the U23s. He has a day job within the Inter Miami organization.
The USMNT callups alone next year are going to be interesting. As of right now we have: CONCACAF Nations League (June) Gold Cup (July) 2022 World Cup qualification (September) There will presumably be USMNT friendlies in preparation as well. Then we throw in the U23 CONCACAF Championships (unknown date), the Olympics (presumably in July), the U20 CONCACAF Championships (tentative May), the U20 World Cup (tentative June/July), etc. etc. On top of that we'll have the Copa America, the U20 South American Championships, the Euros, and the Euro U21 Championships! There's gonna have to be extreme negotiating behind the scenes with MLS clubs in particular. We can do this. We have the pool to do this. Its just going to require a lot of preparation. Where and how do the Olympics fit in? For me they're 3rd priority after WCQing and the Gold Cup. More important than CONCACAF Nations League. But the CONCACAF NAtions League is an event I'd love to have brought at lot of young players to. I don't think that's gonna be possible now.
I would put the Olympics ahead of the Gold Gup, especially since the Confederations Cup is no more. It is much more competitive. It would be a much better experience for our players than playing mostly gimme home games, half against minnows. I would take the best U-23/24 whatever it is and best 3 overage that fit into that team. The TV rights to the Gold Cup will have already been sold, either the US or Mex will make the final, guaranteeing a sellout, so the income is basically guaranteed. Of course given our failure to make the last two Olympics, it may not even be a decision we have to make.
So I saw something this weekend from Sebastian Coe of the IOC that said all athletes who have already qualified for the 2020 games will keep their slot. It's not definitive, but I think that could be interpreted to mean that all 97s will still get to play in the Olympics as every region besides CONCACAF has already had its qualification tournament and presumably 97s participated on the qualifying teams. Would still like to see something definitive about this from FIFA.
Could CONCACAF be punished since they didn't pick players for their teams yet and have to field U23 while the rest use U24?
I would take how much that statement applied to soccer's age limit with a huge grain of salt. What's clear is that teams that have qualified should stay qualified and not need to have another qualifying tournament. And individual athletes in swimming, fencing, track & field, etc. that have already qualified will again remain qualified and not need to win again at a meet in 2021 to qualify. I think they will ultimately settle on allowing it to be U24 in principle if not in name but I don't think the IOC was thinking of men's soccer when they said this.