The U.S. Men’s Olympic squad knows there are plenty of scenarios that could boost them in the knockout round or eliminate them from Paris altogether, but leaving it all on the line is their main goal against Guinea on Tuesday.
Marko Mitrovic’s squad are confident of reaching the quarterfinals after rolling past New Zealand 4-1 on Saturday in their second group stage match. Four different players scored goals, which helped the Americans make program history against the All Blacks.
Despite suffering a shutout loss to hosts France in their opening match, the USMNT Olympic squad rebounded in the best way possible, knowing a victory by two or more goals over Guinea on Tuesday would advance them in the competitions.
However, a slim win paired with a New Zealand upset result over Les Bleus would eliminate the USMNT Olympic squad after only three matches abroad. The Americans have already faced Guinea once in 2024 so familiarity will be on their side in a crucial showdown.
“I said, even before coming here, when people ask me what they can expect from us, I said one thing: ‘I promise that this group is going to give everything on the field and where that’s going to take us, I don’t know,” Mitrovic told reporters Monday. “But I know that they’re going to give everything.”
“I think this group is continuing to grow, continuing to learn about each other, and hopefully we can continue to move forward,” defender Miles Robinson said. “If we do that, the sky’s the limit.”
The USMNT Olympic squad defeated Guinea 3-0 back in March and a win on Tuesday would their first in competitive play over an African country.
Pretty good first half. Still not enough from Mihailovich. Strong first 20 minutes from him, but has drastically dropped off. But a very good goal from him.
I think the team needs a third goal to kill Guinea off.
Front three are playing really well.
i liked yow and tolkin.
i thought both second halves were mismanaged and bad. i don’t think that france score belonged as bad as it was (guinea played them 1-0), and they let NZ back in second half, in a tournament where GF and GD may matter.
8 minutes in to the Guinea game and no score. This is terrible mismanagement we were already up 1 against New Zealand by now. Without Busio this U23 team is terrible with no creativity.
i said “second halves.” and, anyhow, magically look better with yow starting but it’s being managed fine, eh?
what i am seeing that this team does is hit a lot of lofted far post balls on set pieces.
Well they are up 2-0. So would you like to reassess your comment?
reassess in the first half whether the second half will be handled right? you’re missing my point.
You know you can.play and beat teams. To be honest while France is the better side the US had their chances against them. Just win lads!
“Just win, baby!”
“slim win paired with a New Zealand upset result over Les Bleus would eliminate the USMNT ”
As far as I can gather this is inaccurate. First tie breaker is goal differential I believe so if the US win an improve theirs then New Zealand would need crush France but then the US probably goes ahead of France. In other words a US win ensures that we go through.
I think the article is incorrect.
I is an interesting situation. France is on 6 points, New Zealand and the US are on 3 points and Guinea has 0 points. If New Zealand upsets France, then they would be on 6 with France. On goal differential New Zealand is a minus 1, right now, France is presently on a +4, and the US is on a differential of 0. A US victory by even 1 goal would require New Zealand to win by at least 2 goals. If New Zealand won by more than 3 goals, then France would be in trouble. If France wins and Guinea wins, then you would have the bottom 3 teams all on 3 points, so the goal differential in both the games would be decisive as to which team comes in 2nd. Guinea is currently on a -2, so it would need to beat the US by at least 2 goals to assure going through. It is still a crap shoot.
Was thinking about this earlier today. Not likely that France will not wax the floor with New Zealand. NZ’s defense is horrendous. So is Guinea’s! I think the African side could certainly score some goals against us, BUT their defense is pretty bad too. So I can see the US and Guinea having a 2-2 draw or even Guinea beating us with a score line of 3–2. If that is the case, I think we still go through on goal differential goals score.
Always inaccurate with these articles and I wonder why I keep coming to this site. Coverage of futbol still lacks in this country. Weak like the USSF charade of let’s pick a coach.
What do you propose? You have a voice here. A lot posts here criticize but offer no substantial resolve. Just constant perpetual narratives of grievances of nonsense or some far out grasping at straws arguments.
Just get facts straight like game times and standings and what is actually needed to advance. Larry usually does a good job but I bet he could do better with tad more research.
if we win our game ends guinea’s trip and i don’t think NZ has a good chance to match us with a win plus a margin. and it would need to be a big win over france that makes up -2 GD.
if we tie that also takes care of guinea and then NZ has to beat france, which they would advance free and clear on table points. if they tie also then GD holds stable and we go. if they lose, we’re through on points.
if we lose then it becomes a GD/GF exercise depending which among guinea and NZ win. i think we go through if it’s a one goal loss and NZ loses as well — on GF tiebreaker.