PARIS — The last time the U.S. men played in an Olympic soccer quarterfinal, Bill Clinton was president and neither the iPhone, Twitter or Facebook had been invented.
It’s been a while.
So even though the team’s first appearance in the Summer Games in 16 years ended Friday in another quarterfinal loss, this time a 4-0 defeat by Morocco, for the players and coach Mark Mitrović, this tournament was about more than a game they lost. It was also about the opportunity they seized.
“If this could be some reference for the future, I would like that. Because the more we play games like this, it’s better experience for us,” Mitrović said. “
2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games
“The Olympic Games are probably the biggest event that humanity created. And once you’re in Olympic Games, you’re in a big spotlight. Before this tournament it was an uncertainty for them. What is playing in a tournament like this [like]? Now, after this, I feel that they’re going to be much more ready for what is coming.”
The game really wasn’t much of a contest. Playing before a pro-Moroccan crowd at a packed Parc des Princes stadium, the Africans bottled up the U.S. offense for most of the hot, steamy afternoon. The first and last goals came on penalty kicks — the first in the 29th minute from Soufiane Rahimi, who leads the tournament with five goals, and the last from second-half substitute Mehdi Maouhoub in stoppage time.
In between, Ilias Akhomach and Achraf Hakimi scored on counterattacks seven minutes apart. The physical Moroccans — by the end of the game, nine players were carrying yellow cards — denied the middle of the field, controlled the ball nearly two-thirds of the first half and put eight shots on goal to the Americans’ one.
As a result, Morocco is headed to Monday’s semifinals, where it will meet Spain, a 3-0 winner over Japan, while the Americans are headed home.
But if U.S. will leave Paris without a medal, the players aren’t leaving empty-handed.
“There’s going to be a lot of guys on this team that hopefully transition into playing in a future World Cup and they are going to have this experience to look back on,” said defender Walker Zimmerman, the only World Cup veteran on the roster. “It does help. Big knockout tournaments, you need those games to grow as a group. These guys are going to have the opportunity. Hopefully they take that experience and use it in their future.”
Morocco’s Ilias Akhomach celebrates after scoring against the United States on Friday.
(Aurelien Morissard / Associated Press)
The men’s Olympic tournament, unlike the women’s competition, is an age-group event limited, with three exceptions, to players born on or after Jan. 1, 2001. It’s one the U.S. last qualified for in 2008 and Friday’s game was just the second since 1956 the Americans have played in a knockout round. Their two wins here are the most ever by the American men in an Olympic tournament.
And while that doesn’t make up for more than a century of mostly lost chances for a youth development program that needs global competitions like the Olympics to prepare its players, it helps. Certainly the mindset has changed: this time the U.S. wasn’t just happy to be here, Mitrović said, it had visions of winning.
“Every team is story for itself and we had our dreams here,” he said. “We are where we deserve to be, but not where we want to be because we wanted to go further. It’s always difficult when you lose the game.”
Even in defeat there’s much to be learned, however. For Zimmerman, 31, one of the Americans’ three overage players and the most experienced with 42 senior international caps, part of that education for his young Olympic teammates is simply how to wear the uniform.
And if they gained nothing else here, he said that could prove to be more than enough.
“You never know when this is your last chance to represent your country, especially in a major competition,” he said. “Even though you’re emotional in those last minutes because you know that it’s too late, it’s about having the character that we’ve come to know and love with Americans. The Olympic spirit. I hope guys walk away remembering that feeling
“Just the pride of playing for your country. To some degree we’ve gotten away from that and that stuff pisses me off. That is something I’ll never take for granted. Hopefully they realize how unique and how short these moments are. It’s just a blip in your life and you’ll get remembered for it.”