In terms of the USMNT there wasn’t much value for the 2021 Olympics because basically all our u23’s are full time USMNT starters or contributors at this point however, because our current u23’s in the USMNT aren’t going anywhere for the next 8-10 years the amount of spots available in the USMNT for u23’s in 2024 will not be as big. That group will likely being a very competitive squad to the Olympic (pending which ones get euro releases). The 2nd string for the 2024 group likely would be able to do this event while our 2nd string u23’s now wouldn’t. There may even be first string u23’s for 2024 that aren’t USMNT first team players yet
I think I would have loved to have seen our top group at the Olympics just to see how they would have measured up. Feels like we’d have realistic expectations of them at least medaling. Realistically though we probably wouldn’t have gotten most of our top players released from their clubs. I think the main benefit would have been as a way to keep younger players, and especially dual nationals, connected with the program. That way we would have been able to keep the Justin Che and Jonathan Gomez types engaged and in the tent.
That's true. To us it's a glorified youth tournement. If we're in it we obviously want to do well, but if we're not we donot lose sleep over it. I guess the status of an Olympic gold medal in the USA plays a big part in it. It's different for the Orange Lionesses, by the way. The limping preps for the Olympics get people nervous, as we want to see a run like in the World Cup.
As well we have nothing to watch period. We fail to qualify for WC, for Olympics, and if we happen to qualify for World U-something we will have another idiot coach who isn't able to select players, but will try to implement tactics that doesn't fit the personnel. So Olympics would be a big attraction here.
I love that after so many years of fans complaining about the USMNT not playing possession soccer we have a coach come in and try to implement a possession style and we see complaints. Gregg isn’t perfect but I do appreciate that he actually tries to get us to play soccer instead of kickball
I meant Wicky and Kreis, but there is plenty of soccer between Barca and Barnsley, and style should be based on the roster and not vice versa. Berhalter will learn that eventually if he hasn't yet.
It's a bit crazy to consider how different the roster for qualifying would be if you could pick it over today. You'd probably see Pepi, Busio, Williamson, Clark, Cowell, Flach, Sands, and maybe Cole Bassett. And I think Soto, Cardoso, Perea, Yueill, Dotson, Mihailovic, Michel, Lewis, and Saucedo all would have been at risk at losing their spots. And if we'd actually made the Olympics would have been super interesting to see what the dynamic would have been between this and the Gold Cup roster. I also wonder if players like Luca De La Torre, who turned down the Gold Cup, would have done the same for the Olympics. We may not have even taken any overage players. If club availability were the same as the Gold Cup it feels like we would have major concerns in filling out the center backs. Alas I guess no point in playing the what if game at this point.
I’m a big fan of a cohesive team playing a cohesive system. But what the USYNT should learn from this is that at this age, player ability changes rapidly and significantly. The youth teams have always been way too consistent and insular; they’ve always been run as a small club. We’re not doing Bradenton anymore… there needs to be more rotation. A bigger tent is a good thing here for recruiting as well. It’s a transition that needs to happen. Bring in more people, run a basic, consistent system, and react quicker to players breaking out
The thing is, everyone and their mother was saying it was a poor roster and most of the names were suggested as improvements. I don’t think, even with the increased sample size, we would have seen much difference in selection. The real interesting thing to me is that Olympic qualifying seems to have damaged the prospects of multiple players for the senior team. Look how many were in Senior MNT camps prior to the OQ tournament and were passed over for the Gold Cup.
I mean yes its true, even with all the data available to us today, Kreis may have picked both an unbalanced roster, and passed over more deserving players. I'm guess I'm struck at just how many of the players on the Olympic qualifying roster probably shouldn't have been there based on the data available today. And that's from a team where we already were picking from a reduced pool of players. On the other hand the roster from March 2020 before COVID hit probably is good enough to qualify. I also feel like even with so many of players playing with the senior team for the Gold Cup, we probably would have taken a dramatically different roster to the Olympics had we qualified (though its likely some guys would have shifted from the Gold Cup to the Olympics. Just thinking through what a roster would like if you left out the Gold Cup players and assume the European players are generally not available because of preseason gives you something like the below. GK-Ochoa, Freese, Marcinkowski DF-Araujo, Herrera, Paredes, Gomez, Glad, Che, Trusty, Kessler M-Flach, Nyeman, Amaya, Perea, Basset FWD-Clark, Cowell, Ferraria, Mueller, Pepi, Ebobisse This includes one overage player in Mueller as I didn't really feel that strongly about any others. It's definitely not strong at center back if you assume Richards, EPB, and CCV would not be available.
So looks like Mexico beat France 4-1 as expected. Honduras lost to Romania 1-0. Argentina lost to Australia 2-0. Brazil beat Germany 4-2. Japan beat South Africa 1-0 Ivory Coast beat the Saudis 2-1. Spain tied Egypt 0-0. It's a shame that the Olympics isn't taken as seriously by FIFA (competitively speaking). It would be pretty cool to see that as a replacement to the Confederations Cup.
It's interesting to see the rosters sent by each country. Mexico definitely takes this seriously and has sent pretty much a first choice roster as far as I can tell. Brazil and Spain seem to have sent a pretty solid roster too, and Spain has even included 5 players from their Euro team. On the other hand France badly struggled to put together a roster. I'd like to see FIFA make the Olympics fully an U23 event with no overage players and require clubs to release players for it. The main issue though is the Olympics are pretty late in the summer and basically require players to miss all of preseason.
This used to be the case. In the past, clubs were required to release U23 players. But now that it isn't even on the FIFA calendar, clubs aren't required to release players of any age. In the eyes of FIFA its the same as the U20WC, etc. You hit the nail on the head in terms of why it was taken off the FIFA calendar. Euro clubs see it as nothing but a distraction and the ECA fought to get it taken off.. Note that its not just pre-season. Some leagues have started (Denmark, etc.) and European qualifying rounds have started.
Have to wonder then if the men’s Olympics could be held at an earlier date then and do the elimination rounds during the actual event to get more leverage with the European clubs. Only potential risk there would be running concurrent with the Euro which may also be able to start earlier
I doubt the IOC would agree to that. They don’t even like when their events are played before the opening ceremonies. I think best case scenario would be if somehow the Olympics was moved up like 2-3 weeks earlier. Is there some reason why that couldn’t be done? Most of the Olympic events have their sports calendar revolve around the Olympics. Soccer is one of the few Olympic sports that doesn’t.
Indeed. This is really an IOC event with FIFA in a supporting role. I doubt FIFA has much say in anything with regards to scheduling. I suspect that the host city has a lot of say in the dates. In 1996 I lived in Atlanta during the Olympics. The size of the Olympics and the number of people involved is unbelievable. I'm sure there are tons of factors in play regarding scheduling, and the soccer tournament presumably is not one of them. In reality we get an event that's semi-relevant. For that we should be grateful. Baseball and other sports are really irrelevant. The scheduling conflict between the EURO season and the qualifying tournament might be something we can influence thru CONCACAF. The USSF might be able to influence that. Have the Olympic qualifying tournament in the summer or spread out over FIFA dates to allow all teams to use their best players should they wish. Or hell, don't have an Olympic qualifying tournament. Use the U20 CONCACAF Championships to determine it like UEFA uses their U21 championships.