MARSEILLE, France — At the end of a chaotic, controversial and farcical day of Olympic soccer, the U.S. men's team finally made its return to the Summer Games only to see France slip away to a long-awaited celebration.
Given the relative madness of what transpired on Wednesday morning (highlighted by the delayed and VAR-invalidated end to Morocco’s victory over Argentina following a shock pitch invasion by fans), the festive atmosphere at the Stade Velodrome seemed almost quaint. But every result is decisive at this stage of a tournament, and France’s 3-0 win over the Americans at least gave most of the 67,000 fans a reason to applaud coach Thierry Henry’s side at the end of the evening. Playing in their home country, a medal is the absolute minimum expected of a team playing at the stadium. The Blues.
For the United States, the bar is certainly lower, though Marko Mitrovic's players have ambition and were clearly disappointed to be on the wrong end of a lopsided scoreline, particularly after performing reasonably well — at least for an hour — in the country's first men's Olympic match since 2008.
“I don't think it was a fair result,” Mitrovic said after the match. “We didn't deserve to lose like this, but we have to learn our lesson.”
That notion of accumulating experience plays out in this under-23 tournament (with three exceptions per team), where most of the game’s top stars, including Christian Pulisic and nearly every other member of the USMNT’s Copa America roster, are in preseason with their club teams rather than competing here. These games for the Americans are as much about the future as the present.
And how did they fare on their debut? Performances were mixed, but Kevin Paredes showed poise with his crosses and Nathan Harriel worked well all over the pitch, while both Djordje Mihailovic and John Tolkin had headers crash off the bar when an inch or two too far could have meant a game-changing goal.
“We played against one of the best teams in the tournament and I think we performed well for 60 minutes,” said Gianluca Busio. “But we know that in tournaments like these you can't lose focus.” [and] I think that's what happened.”
And so it was, as the United States was undone by an unfortunate combination of poorly timed defensive errors and individual brilliance from France. The critical sequence was brutal: Mihailovic slammed a right-footed shot off the crossbar from beyond the area in the 59th minute, but France almost immediately charged the other way.
While Mihailovic shot high, Alexandre Lacazette – one of France's three over-age players – shot low, taking full advantage of Busio's slowness to close him down and fire into the far corner.
Lacazette, a crafty striker who plays for Lyon after spending five years at Arsenal, praised the American defense for containing him for so long.
“They were really aggressive and compact,” he said. “They played better than I thought they would.”
Defender Walker Zimmerman, one of the U.S.'s cover players, was visibly upset after Lacazette's goal and yelled at his teammates to keep it up. The U.S. nearly came back, but Guillaume Restes smartly saved Paxten Aaronson's header from point-blank range, and Tolkin fired in at the far post with his shot that crashed off the base of the post. On the sideline, Mitrovic put his hands to his head in frustration.
Lacazette then set up Michael Olise for France's second goal in less than ten minutes, prompting cheers from the French crowd. And just as Busio was slow to close down Lacazette for the opener, so too was Aaronson to get to Olise for his long-range shot. On both occasions, France made him pay.
“It's something we've talked about,” Mitrovic said. “The players in his team have a lot of quality to use even when they're 25 yards from goal.”
Disappointments aside, France coach Henry was effusive in his praise for the Americans, saying he was surprised by the way they defended and adding that they may have actually handled the crowd's emotions better than his own players, at least early on. And while Henry was glad to see Loïc Badé round off the scoring with five minutes left, his broader comment about France applies to the American players as well. “This game means nothing without the next one,” Henry said.
That's very true. For the United States, the next challenge is Saturday's match against New Zealand, a game the Americans believe they must win, just as they hope to win their final against Guinea. If they win both, they will likely advance to the quarterfinals.
In fact, despite this loss, the Americans still have their sights set on advancing out of the group, and have spoken openly among themselves about the possibility of making history: no U.S. men's team has ever won a medal in the modern Olympic era.
“That's been our goal all along,” Busio said, “and just because we had a little setback doesn't mean it's not still possible.”
Mihailovic was even more direct. After watching the United States play during the first hour, he said he would like nothing more than a rematch with France later in the tournament.
“I think we have to get out of the group,” he said, “and then hopefully we'll see them in the final.”
