Yes, Spain defensively have been poor. Even in the EURO 2025 Qualifiers I saw they were on something of a decline after their WWC winning coach left. Brazil have been better than they were against France when they had to soak up a lot of pressure. If Brazil's first goal was fortunate their second was brilliant.
1-1 with Spain's first shot! A well engineered goal but France left far too much space inside their penalty area.
Great job by Spain. They were the best team, the most talented team, and probably are going to be the senior team to beat going forward. And their best under-23 talents were not even in the Olympic. Amazing job by the Spaniards.
Spain just a level ahead over everyone else in both the Euros and Olympics. Congrats on that rare Double. Clear favorite going into 2026.
He wrote the same comment earlier in this thread so I don't think so. I also agree with him, the Olympics is a youth tournament that doesn't even have the best players of it's age group due to player release. That doesn't mean you won't see entertaining games. My league in my country has lots of entertaining games, but it's a long way short of even being the highest quality league in the confederation.
I'm saying it's a step below real national team football. Don't confuse entertaining matches with high quality.
Like I said before. Egypt and Morocco U23 teams are in the semis of this competition. Yet their full teams which are much stronger couldn't get beyond the round of 16 at the afcon. This competition is much weaker than the afcon. If I even look at the Gold Cup, I think both Canada and USA full teams would easily beat this Spain U23. This competition is a step below.
Right. People always mix those 2 things up. Most Champions league finals are kinda dull, but obviously the quality is top notch. Plus slot of the goals today were just down to bad goalkeeping.
Yeah, that might be a stretch. I think the better point is that clubs are not obliged to release players for this. So, there's not just the age limit but the availability issue, which diminishes the quality greatly. The golden boot winner of the Olympics isn't even one of Spain's top 20 players, much less the world's.
The US takes the Women’s title 1:0. Heartbreak for Marta. With the Women’s calendar getting more and more packed, how much longer until FIFA makes this a U23 competition like the Men?
The packed calendar is mostly a UEFA thing. As a US fan the Olympics have always been important as the only opportunity for a major tournament between World Cups. For most of the team's history, the only official events outside of WC/Olympics have been quick 8-team CONCACAF qualifying tournaments. Last time they even allowed a goal in one of those was 2010. Things are getting better, as the new W Gold Cup was the best thing CONCACAF has ever done on the women's side, but it benefited from four CONMEBOL guest teams. In contrast UEFA fills the calendar constantly with three competitions and has a strong Euro championship to serve as a second major tournament, so perspectives are going to be different. With the USA and Australia hosting the next two Games I suspect they are going to want to keep it a senior-level tournament. But complaints are getting louder about the format with small squads and 6 games in 17 days, so changes are definitely possible.
Whose calendar is "getting more and more packed"? WNT competitive calendars certainly are not. During this last Olympic cycle (Aug '20 - Jun '24) silver-medal BRA WNT played just 16 competition matches and 34 friendlies: - Conmebol + FIFA, 9: CA 2022 (6) + WWC 2022 (3) - Hybrid, 7: W Gold Cup 2024 (6) + Finalissima (1) - Friendlies, 34: Friendlies (23) + Invitationals (11) Meanwhile, gold-medal USA WNT played 20 competition matches and 39 friendlies: - Concacaf + FIFA, 9: Qualifiers 2022 (5) + WWC 2023 (4) - Hybrid, 11: W Gold Cup 2024 (6) + Panamerican 2023 (5) - Friendlies, 39: Friendlies (31) + Invitationals (8) Instead, a valid complaint about WNT fatigue is why both WWC and Olympics run on consecutive summers. FIFA protected its pockets on the men's side by nerfing men's Olympic football with non-mandatory u-23 squads.
Remember that "the calendar" isn't just NT matches. It's the total number of games top players are playing between country *and* club. In 2019, top NWSL players had a 24-game season and 4-team playoff to balance with their NT games. Then it went down to 22 games but indeed to a 6-team playoff and added the Challenge Cup. This year, it's a 26-game season, 8-team playoff, Summer Cup, and Champions League. By 2026 we'll be up to a 30-game season and add the Club World Cup. This is just NWSL, but club seasons are getting longer and more club competitions are getting added around the world too The calendar is absolutely getting more packed
Is it a calendar problem for NWSL players then? It does not seem to be a determining factor in Olympic rosters/performance: - NWSL players in Olympic medal match rosters: gold-USA 15, silver-BRA 4, bronze-GER 1, 4th-SPA 0. (edit for bronze). Most Olympic BRA players are BRA league based, and their club+NT calendar remains unchanged since the last Olympics. So, whose calendars are "getting more and more packed"? Which Olympic rosters experienced busier calendars than before? Is it possible that the spike in pre-Olympic injuries stems from NT squads lacking a proper summer to rest after a Senior World Cup?
Slight correction: The USA sent a U19 team to the Panamerican Games. Still, your figures demonstrate a big contrast with Spain, which has not played a friendly since before the 2023 World Cup, one example of the different calendar-packing in UEFA.