OLYMPIC GAMES
Why isn’t Christian Pulisic playing for Team USA against Morocco in the 2024 Olympic Games?
The AC Milan forward is one of a number of the USMNT’s stars who won’t be representing the United States in Paris this summer.
Team USA’s men’s soccer team continue their journey at the 2024 Olympic Games. Having finished the opening round as runners-up in Group A behind the hosts, Marko Mitrovic’s team enter the knockout stage with a tough meeting against Morocco.
Morocco finished the last round as winners of their group, ahead of Argentina, and feature the tournament’s top scorer in Soufiane Rahimi, who is in pole position in the leaderboard with four goals from three games.
Mitrovic has been rotating his team and has switched systems, although he has kept the same back four up until now. The changes have come in midfield and in attack with Duncan McGuire, Griffin Yow and Paxten Aaronson flitting in and out of the frontline.
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The coach took an 18-man roster to the Games - but captain Christian Pulisic, one of the big American stars, wasn’t among them which came as a surprise to some. Pulisic is currently taking part in the preseason with Milan in the US. He came on as a sub in the victories against Manchester City and Real Madrid and will be hoping to make the starting XI for the final US friendly, against Barcelona on Tuesday.
Messi and Mbappé among missing stars at 2024 Olympics
The United States, however, are not alone in missing their stand-out stars. There’s no Lionel Messi for Argentina, no Kylian Mbappé for France and no Rodri for Spain.
According to Olympic regulations for the men’s tournament, each national team can select a maximum of three players over the age of 23, while the rest of the 18-man squad (plus four reserves) must consist of players born on or after January 1, 2001.
Team USA roster for the 2024 Olympics men’s soccer tournament
Goalkeepers: Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew), Gaga Slonina (Chelsea)
Defenders: Maximilian Dietz (Greuther Furth), Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati), John Tolkin (New York Red Bulls), Caleb Wiley (Chelsea), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC)
Midfielders: Gianluca Busio (Venezia), Benjamin Cremaschi (Inter Miami), Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union), Djordje Mihailovic (Colorado Rapids), Tanner Tessmann (Venezia)
Forwards: Paxten Aaronson (FC Utrecht), Taylor Booth (FC Utrecht), Duncan McGuire (Orlando City), Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg), Griffin Yow (KVC Westerlo)
Reserves: Josh Atencio (Seattle Sounders, midfielder), Jacob Davis (Sporting Kansas City, defender), Johan Gomez (Eintracht Braunschweig, forward), John Pulskamp (Sporting Kansas City, goalkeeper)
Notable names such as Alexandre Lacazette (France), Julián Álvarez (Argentina) and Achraf Hakimi (Morocco) will be representing their countries as overage players.
However, Team USA has opted not to bring three of their more experienced players: Pulisic (25), Weston McKennie (25) and Tyler Adams (25) to the Olympics. Defenders Miles Robinson and Walker Zimmerman, along with midfielder Djordje Mihailovic, have been selected as the ‘veterans’ instead.
Gio Reyna, who is still only 21, would’ve qualified to play but wasn’t chosen by Mitrovic after a difficult season at club level.
Why is the Olympic men’s soccer tournament for under-23s?
Any country affiliated with FIFA is allowed to participate in the men’s Olympic tournament.
But world soccer’s governing body established the under-23 restriction to avoid qualified nations having to deal with schedule clashes when major international tournaments are played in the same year.
The World Cup is usually played two years either side of the Olympic Games, which are regularly held a few weeks after the European Championship and occasionally the Copa América, as is the case this year.