Key events
Tim Smith writes (slightly abridged): “Why so negative? … So they are playing badly and only down by a goal. That’s what half-time, team talks and substitutions are all about. Sir Gareth would wait until the 80th minute to change things!”
The USA aren’t hiring Southgate, are they?
I just don’t see how things can change in the second half. Maybe if Pulisic and Reyna are suddenly flown in …
To be fair to the USA – these are not the best under-23 players in the country. The Copa America roster included Folarin Balogun, Johnny Cardoso, Kristoffer Lund, Malik Tillman, Gio Reyna, Yunus Musah, Joe Scally and Ricardo Pepi.
Granted, that tournament didn’t go so well for the Americans.
This US team have done well to reach this point. Seven goals in two games will always be worth celebrating. But Morocco clearly has an “A” team here, as the result against Argentina showed.
Halftime: Morocco 1-0 USA
It’s a good thing the hot air balloon in the opening ceremony didn’t deflate the way US soccer is deflating here.
This is one of those games that raises questions about youth development in the USA. Morocco didn’t deserve their goal, and this game would be far better if they were going to be forced to create something out of all their possession. But there’s a Mediterranean-sized gulf in quality between these two sides.
The US men look naive and unskilled. Morocco can simply do whatever they want with the ball between the midfield stripe and the penalty area. It looks as if they could easily create more chances but just want to draw things out like bullfighters toying with a bull.
It’s tough to remember when the USA have looked so badly out of their element on a soccer field.
45 min +5: Again, the USA are fortunate that Morocco’s weakest point, today at least, is set pieces. The free kick sails high.
45 min +4: This is borderline unwatchable, given the gap in quality. Morocco possess the ball, the US defense meander around, and Hakimi just takes off past two US players and draws a foul 22 yards out.
45 min +3: Paredes has the ball in a dangerous spa- … oh, never mind, he’s cleanly stripped of it.
Five minutes of stoppage time.
The USA do miss Gianluca Busio, who’s injured. Worth noting.
45 min: “They’re right in the game,” Olympic veteran Tim Howard says. “They’re right where they need to be.”
I would dispute that. There’s quite a difference between a 1-0 game in which both teams are attacking and one in which the team with the lead can possess the ball at will. This is the latter.
44 min: The USA break the Moroccan press – as they have a few times. Paredes pleads for a foul, but I don’t think a foul existed.
Here’s a hint – if you want to complete short passes, you have to have teammates a short distance away. The USA aren’t doing that.
43 min: I won’t spoil it for people planning to watch later, but the USA have claimed two medals in other sports so far today.
Morocco resume the keepaway drill.
41 min: Akhomach is just toying with the USA now, shuffling his feet for a backheeled pass that almost connects.
If Morocco can get a goal on something like that, it’ll feel more justified than the goal they actually got.
41 min: Just a pointless, needless, terrible, no good, very bad foul from Tolkin, pushing over a Moroccan player at midfield.
The USA are rattled and have no idea what to do.
40 min: US foul at midfield – a legitimate call, but Aaronson has to laugh at Hakimi’s embellishment.
39 min: The Moroccan free kick is their worst touch of the game. Sails over by a kilometer.
38 min: Harriel figures if he’s going to get called for fouls, he might as well actually foul someone. He grabs Ezzalzouli’s shirt and hauls him down by the side of the penalty area. Lucky not to get yellow. Free kick.
36 min: As harsh as the call was, the USA aren’t looking capable of posing any sort of threat here. Another unforced turnover. Another missed defensive assignment that leaves Akhomach open for a run, and the USA scramble to deflect a pass for a corner.
35 min: Miles Robinson kicks the ball out of play for some reason.
Morocco apparently intend to possess the ball for the next 65 minutes and occasionally feign injury. Lovely.
34 min: Play continues. Apparently. That goal has just deflated the game, oddly enough.
GOAL! Morocco 1-0 USA (Rahimi 28 pen)
Schulte makes a strong effort, but the ball is placed just inside the post.
Moroccan fans celebrate as if they have accomplished something great rather than being handed a gift.
The call will apparently stand.
It is at the very least unlucky. At most, unjust.
Three players raised their boot to get to the ball, and they all kicked each other. Calling a foul on Harriel there would be harsh, to say the least.
There was no hesitation from our Argentinian referee. What’s the view of the Dutchman in the VAR booth?
27 min: PENALTY TO MOROCCO. Harriel is the guilty party.
Oh, this will be overturned …
26 min: Harriel, the US right back, shows a bit of panic on a through ball and plays it for a corner kick when he surely had time to at least turn it out for a throw-in. Youth soccer mistake there.
25 min: Tough tackle by Morocco in midfield, deemed legal (and probably was), and Morocco resume possession.
24 min: A throw-in call for the USA riles up the crowd. Those of us who serve as referees wince at the thought of hearing similar things from parents and coaches when youth games resume in a couple of weeks.
23 min: Aktomach sizes up Tolkin, shuffles back and forth and finally unleashes a shot, but help arrives. The ball eventually ends up in Schulte’s safe hands without much danger.
22 min: Mihailovic drops the ball neatly into space in the penalty area. If only a US player was anywhere near it.
22 min: A free kick from 40 yards this time – not entirely sure what was called. Mihailovic fancies his chances of doing something here.
21 min: Paredes is fouled at midfield. The Wolfsburg man has been a dangerous attacker throughout this tournament.
19 min: Morocco generously allow the USA a few passes in their own half. Confused by the prospect, the USA make no attempt to get forward, and Morocco ramp up the pressure. Th USA beat that pressure, though, and get some possession. If they’re patient here … oh, never mind, McGlynn just ripped a shot from 40 yards out. It deflects, and Mihailovic is called for a handball, probably incorrectly.
18 min: Rahimi charges down the left. Another couple of passes and then a dangerous ball in the air. Again, Schulte is equal to the task, but how much longer can this go on?
17 min: Hakimi drills the free kick over the wall, but Schulte is well placed and quickly moves a couple of feet to his left to collect. Good start for the US keeper, though they’ll surely prefer him to be less busy than this.
15 min: YELLOW to Jack McGlynn, who is well beaten by Akhomach and has to haul him down. Free kick from 22 yards out.
There’s an air of inevitability here. The USA will have to weather the storm for a while and then hope Morocco lose composure.
15 min: Morocco still in control. They can afford to be patient.
13 min: SHOT ON GOAL for Morocco, as a quick sequence of short passes tees up Akhomach for a 16-yard shot that Schulte has to leap to punch over the bar.
This Moroccan team look very good. The USA might not see much of the ball here.
12 min: The NBC commentators speculate that, because the action has moved to Paris, there must be some USA fans somewhere in the stadium. We have neither heard nor seen them. Morocco fans dominate the stands.
Akhomach finds space in the penalty area, and Miles Robinson comes across to deflect a pass for a corner kick.
11 min: Morocco get a bit impatient in attack and play over the top on the left side of attack, but it goes just over the endline.
10 min: Richardson, son of a US basketball player, wins the ball from Paredes and holds off two US attackers before getting the ball to safety. Nicely done.
9 min: CHANCE, sort of. The free kick floats across to Zimmerman, and the big defender heads it to Aaronson, who drives the ball just wide. Aaronson was, however, clearly offside, and the flag is correctly raised.
8 min: Strange, needless foul off the ball by Ezzalzouli, who apparently figured he could clatter into Paredes without the referee noticing. He couldn’t. Free kick from 30 yards, near the right flank.
7 min: Tolkin finally interrupts the Moroccan sequence of passes and plays ahead to Aaronson, who is fouled.
6 min: Tolkin is waved back on. Morocco maintain possession, knocking the ball around quite confidently.
5 min: A sub is warming up for the US. Really? They’re going to suffer a lineup-changing injury on an uncontested header?
4 min: Hakimi storms forward into the Moroccan attack. He earns a corner kick. It’s headed away by Tolkin, who immediately falls to the ground. Looks like he headed it with the top of his skull, which is not the way to do it.
We have a comment on the national anthems from Sachin Shah: “Morocco won the anthem sing-off. Half our team looks like they aren’t sure of the words.”
They probably just didn’t want to incur more whistling. And besides, as a semi-pro musician myself, I have to say our anthem is tough to sing.
1 min: Corner kick, and a foul is called, apparently on Zimmerman. The replay shows he had his shirt held the entire time he was running in the penalty area. The audacity.
Kickoff: And the opening whistle is followed immediately by incessant whistling from the crowd, which will certainly not be on the side of the US team here.
About that Argentina game (and today’s) …
Seems like eons ago, doesn’t it? It was before the opening ceremony.
Here’s what happened …
Cristian Medina scored the apparent equalizer in the 16th minute of stoppage time. Yes, 16th.
A pitch invasion followed.
The field was cleared.
The stadium was cleared – all spectators told to pack up and leave.
More than an hour later, play resumed – but first, a VAR check! Medina was judged to have been offside.
A few minutes of play later, the official whistle sounded, and everyone who left the stadium thinking they had seen a 2-2 draw must have been surprised when they learned later that day or even the next day that Morocco had actually won.
Ready for a twist?
Today’s match officials are referee Yael Falcon and assistant referees Maximiliano del Yesso and Facundo Rodriguez.
From Argentina.
The fourth official and reserve official are from New Zealand. The VAR crew is from Spain and China.
But do we have odds anywhere on whether anyone from Morocco will point out the referee’s nationality in case of any controversial calls?
Morocco lineup
Goalkeeper: Munir El Kajoui (RS Berkane/MAR), a 35-year-old who has played much of his career in Spain and Turkey
Defense (left to right): Zakaria El Ouahdi (Genk/BEL), Mehdi Boukamir (Charleroi/BEL), Oussama El Azzouzi (Bologna/ITA), captain Achraf Hakimi (PSG/FRA)
Center/defensive mid: Oussama Targhalline (Le Havre/FRA), Amir Richardson (Stade Reims/FRA)
Midfield: Abde Ezzalzouli (Real Betis/ESP), Bilal El Khanouss (Genk/BEL), Ilias Akhomach (Villarreal/ESP)
Forward: Soufiane Rahimi (Al-Ain/KSA)
Hakimi and Rahimi are the overage players in addition to Munir.
Most of the starting lineup would miss the next game if shown yellow today. Even the goalkeeper. The exceptions are Boukamir, Ezzalzouli and El Azzouzi.
This team advanced to this stage by beating a fancied Argentina side that included several players fresh from winning the Copa America. The game was … bizarre. See next post. Rahimi had both goals in the 2-1 decision. They lost to Ukraine 2-1 on a goal deep into stoppage time, with Rahimi again the Moroccan scorer.
Richardson opened the scoring in the 3-0 win over Iraq. Rahimi followed, and Ezzalzouli offered up an insurance goal in the 36th minute.
Transfermarkt lists Hakimi (60m Euros), El Khanouss (30m), Akhomach (15m) and sub Eliesse Ben Seghir (Monaco/FRA, 15m) as the most valuable players on the side.
Richardson was born in France. His father is former US basketball player Micheal Ray Richardson.
US lineup
Goalkeeper: Patrick Schulte (Columbus/USA)
Defense (left to right): John Tolkin (NY Red Bulls/USA), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati/USA), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC/USA), Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia/USA). Zimmerman and Robinson are mainstays on the senior US team and two of the three “overage” players on the team. Zimmerman, in fact, is 31.
Midfield: captain Tanner Tessmann (Venezia/ITA) in a defensive/No. 6 role, then Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia/USA) and Djordje Mihailovic (Colorado/USA), who is having a breakout tournament as one of the “overage” players
Forward: Griffin Yow (Westerlo/BEL), Paxten Aaronson (Vitesse/NED), Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg/GER)
Not too long ago, most US players this age were playing college soccer.
Paredes and Tessmann are on yellow cards and would miss a semifinal if booked again.
In the decisive group-stage game against Guinea, Paredes had two goals. Mihailovic had the other. Mihailovic also scored the opener in the 4-1 win against New Zealand, Zimmerman came up to finish in traffic, and Gianluca Busio added a third at the 30-minute mark. Aaronson added a second-half goal.
The one change from the Guinea game: McGlynn replaces Maximilian Dietz in midfield.
Preamble
The USA-Australia rivalry is in full swing in the pool.
The US men’s soccer team are in the knockout rounds.
Is it 2000 again? Did we finally have a long-delayed Y2K glitch and end up being transported back in time 24 years? Oh, to be that young again …
If you don’t know much about Olympic men’s soccer, here’s the deal – each of these teams represent the best of their country among the three players of any age and 15 or 16 players under age 23 that their professional clubs deemed expendable enough to release for this tournament.
But while the strange rules mean these teams aren’t as strong as their full national teams – there’s no Christian Pulisic or Weston McKennie among the “overage” players, and full national team players under age 23 like Gio Reyna, Yunus Musah, Joe Scally and Ricardo Pepi are elsewhere at the moment – these are still accomplished players. The Sydney Olympics was a bit of a coming-out party for Landon Donovan, John O’Brien and other players who helped the US men reach the World Cup quarterfinals in 2002.
Will any of these players be ready to make an impact in two years’ time? Or will any of them leave France with a medal?
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how the US men have got on so far:
Here come the kids, salvaging the summer for American men’s soccer.
The most consequential action will still be the appointment of a new senior team head coach, with US Soccer currently scouring Europe for a big-name candidate. But the Olympic side are providing the first jolt of positivity and forward momentum, boosting a bruised program that needs reviving before a home World Cup in 2026.
A month that began with the US alarmingly failing to advance from the Copa América group stage – a flop that cost Gregg Berhalter his job – the Olympic side are flourishing in France. The Under-23s secured a rare berth in the knockout phase on Tuesday with an efficient 3-0 win over Guinea in Saint-Étienne.
As a result, the USMNT have reached the knockout stage for the first time since Sydney in 2000 and will face Morocco in the quarter-finals in Paris on Friday. Oubliez the Copa angst; embrassez the Olympic optimism. Here we have an American team that’s exceeding its historical norms.
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