The United States Men’s Olympic Team will look to secure advancement to the quarterfinals when they face Group A last-place team Guinea, in a game that is likely to be much tougher than their cakewalk against New Zealand three days prior.
The resounding 4-1 victory over the largely helpless OlyWhites on Saturday was exactly the type of result that Marko Mitrović’s men needed to take a lot of the pressure off of the final game. Not only did it earn the Americans a much-needed three points, but the wide margin of victory also completely canceled out the goal differential hole from the tournament-opening 3-0 loss to hosts France, leaving the team solidly in second place heading into the final game.
While nothing can be taken for granted, especially considering France’s less-than-spectacular 1-0 win over Guinea in their second game, a victory by the Americans would almost certainly see them through to the knockout round. It would take a very unlikely sequence of events, including New Zealand beating France by an exact three-goal margin in a rather high-scoring game, and comparatively low-scoring one-goal win by the US, to deny them a spot on tiebreakers in the case of a victory.
Naturally, there are also permutations that would see Mitrović’s men advance in the case of a draw or even a loss, however the safest bet, and the obvious target of the team, will be to beat the current last-place team in the group.
Even with the Guineans on zero points after two games, that task may be easier said that done, as they do have a team with arguably higher pedigree and quality than the Americans’ prior opponents New Zealand.
Guinea head coach Kaba Diawara made relatively good use of his three allowed over-age players, notably bringing former Liverpool and RB Leipzig attacking midfielder Naby Keïta to act as captain of the team, along with the 43-times capped defensive midfielder Amadou Diawara and the experienced Abdoulaye Touré.
The latter two formed a solid central midfield pairing against France, helping the team arguably go toe-to-toe with the pre-tournament favorites. Diawara also scored the only goal for Guinea so far in the tournament, late in their first game against the New Zealanders.
However, the team’s most exciting, and potentially crucial player in the game will be former Barcelona starlet Ilaix Moriba, who remains one of the more intriguing young talents in Europe, even as he has struggled to consistently make his mark at the highest level.
While the 21 year-old was platooned to an attacking wing placement by Diawara against France, he is most dangerous when sliding into more of a central playmaking role. This has created some headaches for the coach, as the team’s midfield is their main strength due to the aforementioned trio of over-age players, while they have significantly less firepower in the pure attacking roles.
In both games, Algassime Bah, whose professional experience has almost exclusively come in the second team of Greek club Olympiakos, started as the center forward, and struggled in both instances. To their credit, the team’s defense, which is also far less experienced than the midfield, performed very well to limit France to the lone goal on Saturday, and will pray for a similarly gutsy performance against the experienced, and currently on-fire set of US attackers.
For the second game in a row, the Americans do have a far superior squad, on-paper, even if the gap is somewhat narrower than three days before. The main issue could turn out to be the overall fitness and stamina of the squad, after Mitrović strangely opted to send out exactly the same starting XI in both of their prior two games.
While it did work wonders the second time around, with three goals inside of the first half-hour, the coach does risk some fatigue in key players, and will certainly rotate some players in this final group game.
One change that is almost sure to happen is the replacement of central midfielder Gianluca Busio with an alternative option. While no firm update has been given by the team at the current moment, he did appear to tweak his hamstring in the first half against New Zealand, and some uncorroborated reports out of Italy have indicated that it is a re-aggravation of a prior injury that cost him some time at Venezia last season.
Should Busio be unavailable or needing a short recovery time, Philadelphia Union midfielder Jack McGlynn would be a logical replacement, after looking up to the task in the extended substitute role on Saturday.
Another likely switch would be the insertion of transfer target Griffin Yow at center forward in place of the so-far unimpressive Duncan McGuire. The Westerlo forward had a strong outing for the last 30-plus minutes on Saturday, setting up the team’s fourth goal.
One interesting point will be whether Mitrović continues with Patrick Schulte in goal, after the Columbus Crew keep has been, at best, sufficient in the first two games. The coach did clearly say in pre-tournament statements that every player on the roster would get the chance to take the field at some point, so it might be an opportune time to give Chelsea prospect Gabriel Slonina a run-out.
Paxten Aaronson and Kevin Parades were both productive on the wings against New Zealand and could keep their spots, however the insertion of the similarly experienced and dangerous Taylor Booth into one of the front spots, particularly for Paredes, would not be a shock.
One sure thing should the the continuance of Tanner Tessmann’s role in the heart of the midfield. The (soon-to-be-transferred) Venezia player has been the rock of the team in the first two games, and will be absolutely needed to deal with the experience on the opposing side, even if he is carrying a yellow card.
Apart from Walker Zimmerman and Miles Robinson likely forming the central defense pairing, the back line could see some changes, particularly with outside back and recent Chelsea acquisition Caleb Wiley being fully rested after not playing on Saturday.
The game will take place at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in the city of Saint-Étienne, with the match between New Zealand and France being played simultaneously in Marseille. Kickoff for both games is at 7pm local time, 1pm Eastern US time.
