The United States U-23 Men’s National Team returns to Olympic play for the first time since 2008 on Wednesday evening, when they open their campaign against hosts and gold medal favorites France.
After missing the previous three editions due to a string of disappointing qualification campaigns, the program finally got it right this time around, making the cut by way of their success in the 2022 CONCACAF U20 championship.
While only a pair of the players from that 2022 team – Paxten Aaronson and Jack McGlynn – are on the current squad, and the coaching staff has undergone a complete overhaul in the time since, the long-awaited participation of the team in the Olympics has been one of the most hotly anticipated highlights for American fans between the spectacles of the 2022 and 2026 World Cups.
The French team, coached by the legendary Thierry Henry, must be considered one of the three favorites of the tournament, alongside Argentina and Spain. However, a 2-2 draw between these two teams during a friendly match back in March could indicate that the gulf of quality is not as wide as the casual observer might think.
The squad of 18 players available to US head coach Marko Mitrović is filled with experienced professionals, even ignoring the trio of overage players; the squad is a mixture of experienced competitors from MLS as well as a number earning starts across the top two divisions in Germany, Italy, Belgium and Netherlands.
They warmed up with a pair of friendly games against fellow Olympic teams Paraguay and Spain, earning a narrow 1-0 win in the former, while drawing 1-1 against the Spaniards on Thursday, with a mock penalty shootout following the game reportedly being won by Mitrovic’s men. Duncan McGuire and Taylor Booth were the goalscorers in those two games.
The current (albeit likely not for long) Venezia duo of Tanner Tessmann and Gianluca Busio should form strong partnership in the midfield, seamlessly continuing the strong showing that they put on throughout the recently completed Serie B season, that saw their team promoted to Italy’s top flight.
At least two of the three allowed overage players are expected to be central figures on Wednesday and the following games; 31 year-old Walker Zimmerman, who has 42 senior caps, will almost certainly start alongside the 29-times capped Miles Robinson in the central defense, filling what is becoming a growing weak point across all age groups in the US system.
While the 25 year-old Djordje Mihailovic does bring experience and attacking bite to the midfield as the third overage participant, he does face strong competition from the likes of Busio, Tessmann, Benjamin Cremaschi, and the aforementioned McGlynn, and will likely play more of a rotational role.
Apart from high expectations for a breakout tournament from Tessmann and Busio, much of the real excitement will be to see how the rather promising crop of forwards will fare against the three group-stage opponents.
Should Mitrović stick with what has become the program-mandated three-man front line, the most likely scenario is for Aaronson and Wolfsburg’s Kevin Paredes to flank the in-demand McGuire, with Booth and Griffin Yow read to add late firepower.
While reports suggested that Columbus Crew keeper Patrick Schulte did get the start in the warm-up against Spain he will be hard-pressed to claim the final starting spot from Gabriel Slonina, who is widely regarded as the future keeper of the US senior team, despite being mired in Chelsea’s loan army.
On the other side of the ball, the firepower available to French coach Henry is substantial, and will be a harsh welcome back to the Olympics for the Americans. Forward Michael Olise, who was just acquired by FC Bayern from Crystal Palace for a reported €60 million is only one of many potential world-class players in this age group.
Each of the 18 players on the French roster has years of experience in the top flights of France, Germany, England or Spain, with few real weak spots at any positions on the field.
However, beyond the players who will take part in the game, the coach himself will almost assuredly be the most analyzed of the French contingent, after emerging as one of the top candidates for the currently vacant USMNT coaching job.
One of the most legendary attacking players of his era, Henry has attempted to forge a coaching career since retiring from playing duty ten years ago. His performance as the boss at Montreal and Monaco between 2018 and 2021 could debatably be viewed as failures, or more optimistically as a naïve coach thrown into a situation for which he was simply not ready.
However, after taking a step back and working as an assistant in the Belgian program before taking over the French U21 and U23 teams, he is slowly re-building his resume. A gold-medal success at the Olympics, even should it come partially at the cost of the Americans, would surely quiet a large amount of the trepidation amongst US fans and thrust him into serious consideration.
The game will kick off at 9pm local time, 3pm Eastern US time, in the Stade de Marseille in the coastal city of Marseille.
In its previous appearances in the Olympics, including the U23 era since 1992 and the editions beforehand that allowed fully senior squads, the US has only taken a medal shortly past the turn of the 20th century, in 1904, and has not reached the knockout round since the 2000 edition in Sydney.
Regardless of the result against France, the Americans will be favorites against Guinea and New Zealand in the subsequent Group A games, so anything short of a quarterfinal appearance will be a second major disappointment for the US program this summer.
