USMNT Olympic Qualifying

[mike412]

An “A” US U23 team might have a chance to win a Gold Medal if Spain, Portugal and at least 3 other European teams didn’t send their “A” U23 teams. I haven’t seen any of the U23 South American or African teams, but the talent on those European sides is far superior to the US. The US might have 3 or 4 players who would match their European counterparts for quality, but the rest of the team wouldn’t be close in quality.

There is a reason those teams have been winning the U18 and U20 championships.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

There is a reason those teams have been winning the U18 and U20 championships.

I don't think there is a FIFA U18 World Cup, but there is a U17 World Cup. Of the last 9 winners only two are European. In fact Nigeria has won more of those 9 than all the European countries combined. They've won 3 of the last 7. Mexico has won 2 of the last 9. In fact of the 18 times they've held that tournament European teams have only won four, and no European country has won more than once. Nigeria has won it five times on it's own. Ghana and Mexico have won it twice. Saudi Arabia has won it.

At the U20 level there have been 22 tournaments. European countries have won nine of them. Argentina has won six and Brazil five on their own. Two of the most recent European winners are Ukraine and Serbia.

Since the Olympics went to the U23 format there have been 7 tournaments. European teams have one once, Spain, in the first tournament using that format, on their home soil. Since then the winners have been Nigeria, Cameroon, Argentina twice, Mexico and Brazil.

I guess all this is a round about way of saying that success at the U17, U20 and U23 levels doesn't mean that a team is going to be successful at the full national team level. Because the teams that usually win those tournament are NOT generally the best teams at the full national level. And vise versa, the countries with the best full national sides rarely do well in the age group tournaments, with the exception of Argentina and Brazil, who do win their fair share of them.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

An “A” US U23 team might have a chance to win a Gold Medal if Spain, Portugal and at least 3 other European teams didn’t send their “A” U23 teams. I haven’t seen any of the U23 South American or African teams, but the talent on those European sides is far superior to the US. The US might have 3 or 4 players who would match their European counterparts for quality, but the rest of the team wouldn’t be close in quality.

There is a reason those teams have been winning the U18 and U20 championships.

The top teams will absolutely not be sending "A" teams which is why a US A team will have a chance. That's one of the main premises for doing this. The US U23 "A team" would basically be the senior national team's "A team" and no Americans will know they are playing vs U23 B teams so if they make the semis or Gold Medal game, it will get big ratings.

Besides this though, it would be very useful for the best U23s to play together in a tournament setting.

 

[JD1976]

The U.S. women can clinch an Olympic berth with a win tonight over Mexico. 10pm on FS1. Mexico shouldn’t pose too much of a problem, but this is win and you are in, lose and you are out scenario. Canada/Costa Rica is the other matchup to decide CONCACAF’s two representatives. Unlike the men, the women send their full national teams to the Olympics.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

The top teams will absolutely not be sending "A" teams which is why a US A team will have a chance. That's one of the main premises for doing this. The US U23 "A team" would basically be the senior national team's "A team" and no Americans will know they are playing vs U23 B teams so if they make the semis or Gold Medal game, it will get big ratings.

Besides this though, it would be very useful for the best U23s to play together in a tournament setting.

Refresh my memory. Under what premise would we field a competitive U23 team? On such a team we would need our best young players that are playing in europe, and that would include Pulisic. But if you look at Pulisic alone, he has English Chelsea teammates Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham, Reece James, Mason Mount, Callum Hudson Odoi, and a few other English under 21 players on Chelsea’s 1st team. Not to mention Jaden Sancho who may be a Chelsea player this summer. These guys are all the same age as Pulisic and are all at his level or better. And that’s just young english players at one pro club. France, Germany and Spain would have the same abundance of riches.

Btw...anyone see that 6’4” 18 year old Scandinavian forward playing for Dortmund right now? He has like 7 goals in three games. Unbelievable.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Btw...anyone see that 6’4” 18 year old Scandinavian forward playing for Dortmund right now? He has like 7 goals in three games. Unbelievable.

Erling Haaland. Not only has he scored seven goals in three games, he has only actually even started one of those three games. He's played a total of 136 minutes to get those seven goals. That's insane.

But alas. He's not 18. He's 19. Slacker.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

By the way, other than CONCACAF most of the rest of the men's Olympic field is set. Japan (obviously, as hosts), France, Germany, Romania, Spain (a strong European contingent this time), New Zealand, Egypt, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Australia, Saudi Arabia and South Korea are in.

The CONMEBOL tournament is going on right now. With one round of games to go on Sunday Argentina has clinched a spot. Brazil needs to beat Argentina on Sunday to guarantee they are in. If they lose or draw and the Uruguay - Colombia game has a winner that winner is in. If Brazil loses and the Uruguay - Colombia game ends in a draw it will be a three way time for the second spot. If goal difference determines the winner then Brazil would have to hold their loss to a one goal loss, in which case the three would be level on points and level on goal difference. And depending on the scores there could be a tie on goals scored. In which case it looks like the second team to go would be determined by FIFA fair play points in the tournament. And if that's tied, then of course it's on to the drawing of lots.

 

[JD1976]

The U.S. women can clinch an Olympic berth with a win tonight over Mexico. 10pm on FS1. Mexico shouldn’t pose too much of a problem, but this is win and you are in, lose and you are out scenario. Canada/Costa Rica is the other matchup to decide CONCACAF’s two representatives. Unlike the men, the women send their full national teams to the Olympics.

Women win 4-0 over Mexico. They rolled through CONCACAF as expected and qualify for Tokyo. This team seems to have a killer instinct that is impressive. I can’t remember a game in the last year, including the World Cup, where they didn’t come out and score a goal in the first 5 minutes. They are a pleasure to watch.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Women win 4-0 over Mexico. They rolled through CONCACAF as expected and qualify for Tokyo. This team seems to have a killer instinct that is impressive. I can’t remember a game in the last year, including the World Cup, where they didn’t come out and score a goal in the first 5 minutes. They are a pleasure to watch.

That game could have been a lot worse than just four. They had a ton of good chances.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Refresh my memory. Under what premise would we field a competitive U23 team? On such a team we would need our best young players that are playing in europe, and that would include Pulisic. But if you look at Pulisic alone, he has English Chelsea teammates Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham, Reece James, Mason Mount, Callum Hudson Odoi, and a few other English under 21 players on Chelsea’s 1st team. Not to mention Jaden Sancho who may be a Chelsea player this summer. These guys are all the same age as Pulisic and are all at his level or better. And that’s just young english players at one pro club. France, Germany and Spain would have the same abundance of riches.

Btw...anyone see that 6’4” 18 year old Scandinavian forward playing for Dortmund right now? He has like 7 goals in three games. Unbelievable.

England didnt make it first of all and there are only 4 Euro teams making the tournament easier. But here's the thing. A US U23 A team would be roughly the same team as the full Senior National Team plus you're allowed 3 overage players so if you really needed the full senior starting 11, you could pretty much do it. And the Senior National Team should be able to beat U23s from Germany, France, Spain, Brazil, and Argentina because the best U23s from those countries wont play.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

With the cancellation of the olympics, the soccer tournament will be U24 next summer so the same players will be available. However, the Gold Cup is also taking place that summer and is considered a much more important tournament than the Olympics even though the average American sports fan would consider the Olympic tournament to be more important and pay more attention to that. So being that most of the USMNT A team would be U24 (Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Dest, Sargent, Acosta, etc), I'd assume those guys will play in the GC and we'll send a U24 B team to Tokyo and get knocked out in the Group Stage.

What I am hoping for is with the delay of the CONCACAF Nations League Finals and the possible delay of World Cup Qualifying combined with the 2022 WC not being played until December 2022, that they will move the Gold Cup to July 2022 but I doubt that.