Olympic Soccer: For the Women, Gold Is the Goal. For the Men, It’s Just Nice They Got This Far

The first thing to know about Olympic soccer is that the men’s and the women’s tournaments are completely different. 

For the women, it’s a full tournament with each nation’s top players, that’s second only to the World Cup in participation and prestige. It’s also been one that the U.S. has struggled in recently, after arguably the greatest U.S. women’s team ever assembled made a tournament run for the ages in 2012, earning its fourth gold medal in five attempts. 

Since that early dominance, which started with a gold in 1996, and was followed by a silver in 2000 and then three straight golds, the USWNT’s had comparatively lackluster performances. They were bounced by Sweden in the 2016 games and missed out on the medals (led by Pia Sundhage, the coach who helmed the Americans in 2008 and 2012) and then bounced back somewhat to get bronze in the 2020 games in Tokyo (bumped to 2021 due to Covid). 

For the men, though, it’s considered a youth tournament. It features mostly U-23 players (under 23 years old as of January 1 of the year in question), though teams are allowed three players over 23 entirely at their discretion. 

While it’s a helpful measure of how national programs are rounding into shape, some of the best U.S. players — albeit, the ones who just crashed out of the Copa America tournament three weeks ago — are young enough to play for a U-23 U.S. team but don’t. 

As far as narratives go, the women — starting their group stage play at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday against Zambia — provide the most compelling storyline of the two. Emma Hayes was snapped up from Chelsea and announced as the new USWNT head coach in November 2023; that followed the U.S.’s disappointing World Cup exit, with the hope that she can steer them back to winning ways following two less-than-satisfactory eras with Jill Ellis and Vlatko Andonovski at the helm. 

The biggest news — if not the biggest surprise — from roster announcements four weeks ago was longtime star forward Alex Morgan’s omission. She’s yet to score for her club team (NWSL’s San Diego Wave) in eight appearances this season, but scored 15 in 17 matches just two years ago. Leaving her off had echoes of another bit of Team USA controversy, when coach Jürgen Klinsmann didn’t take Landon Donovan and his history of international excellence with him to the 2014 World Cup. 

There’s plenty of attacking talent on the roster, even without Morgan — Mal Swanson has recovered from the knee injury that kept her from the 2023 World Cup, Sophia Smith is emerging as the most reliable per-game goalscorer on the team, with 19 goals in 48 appearances, and Trinity Rodman (yes, Dennis’s daughter, if you are new to all this) is a speedy winger who can adeptly shoot and create problems for defenses on the run. But don’t be surprised if, as happened with Klinsmann and Donovan in 2014, fans might find themselves muttering, “This would be a really good time to bring Alex Morgan in.” 

Only eight players are returning to the Olympic team that went to Japan three years ago: Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, defenders Tierna Davidson, Casey Krueger and Emily Sonnett, midfielders Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle and Catarina Macario and forward Crystal Dunn — the latter an extremely versatile veteran who has played at fullback and in the midfield. 

What’s more, only four of the players have more than 100 national team appearances: Dunn, Horan, Lavelle, and Naeher. While it’s not a complete swap of old for new, the average age of the squad dropped from nearly 31 in Tokyo to not quite 27 in Paris. 

For the men, just getting here has been an accomplishment, as it failed to make the Olympics three straight times after last qualifying in 2008 — showing that the team was more a proving ground for broadcasters like Charlie Davies and Stu Holden. 

This year, Marko Mitrović’s squad includes nine players trying to make their way in Europe, including fullback Caleb Wiley, who moved from Atlanta to Chelsea on Tuesday; a pair of midfielders, Gianluca Busio and Tanner Tessman, who went from MLS to Italian team Venezia; and Orlando City striker Duncan McGuire, who is only playing for the Blackburn Rovers now because of some botched transfer paperwork. The team also features some talented MLS players who could either make the leap to Europe or soon commit to being MLS lifers, like the Red Bulls’ John Tolkin and the Philadelphia Union’s Jack McGlynn. 

A few of the U-23 players on this squad could possibly round into depth pieces for the national team. McGuire is particularly interesting, not only for how he plays the position, but for his retro route to MLS success as a SuperDraft pick from Creighton. (Some good MLS players still come through the U.S. college ranks, though it’s increasingly uncommon.) 

The over-23 picks are a bit puzzling: Nashville’s Walker Zimmerman and Cincinnati’s Miles Robinson are steady, high-end MLS center backs who can each anchor a defense, but bringing the both of them places an outsized emphasis on the back line. They’re joined by Colorado Rapids midfielder Djordje Mihailovic, who was making a push for 2022 World Cup squad consideration before an ill-timed injury forced him out of a key early summer call-up. 

Put it all together, and you have a team with a much lower ceiling then the women — especially since they have to open on Wednesday against France, coached by Thierry Henry, featuring Arsenal and Lyon veteran Alexandre Lacazette, and full of talented young players like Michael Olise, who just transferred from Crystal Palace to Bayern Munich. 

But, unlike the U.S. women’s team with the pressure of being tournament favorites, it’s an achievement just to be there. For both U.S. teams, fans should remember that the first match results won’t necessarily indicate how the tournament will go. The men could be overmatched by France and still make a respectable run through the knockout stages, whereas the women will hardly be tested by Zambia, a team with 95-1 odds to get gold.