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
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.
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.
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.
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
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?
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.
*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.
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.
Pretty much what Sandon said, except for...to be eligible you must be born on or after 1 January 1981. All players on the roster must be U23, except for three overage players. Teams do not have to bring three overage players if they don't want to. A player could have competed in a previous Olympics, but must either be U23 or use one of the three overage slots. Landon Donovan would qualify as a U23 (he took part in 2000). Jeff Agoos could also be brought in again as an overage player. Since the US, among other nations, has players in their Senior team that are eligible age wise, it doesn't matter if a player is a Senior Nat or not. Being in the Senior isn't a non-issue. There are many players that took part in the 2002 World Cup that are eligible for the 2004 Oly's. It doesn't even matter if you are a professional or an amateur, so don't confuse this as well. Conor Casey was still at the University of Portland in 2000, and we know that the NCAA doesn't have any pro's participating in their sanctioned sports! These rules are technically from the 2000 Oly's, but per Soccer America, FIFA will not be changing the rules. I don't remember which issue I read this in. Go to the following link... http://www.fifa2.com/olympics/2000/eligibility_circular_9.pdf