James NaltonBy James Nalton.
Alexandre Lacazette, Michael Olise, and Loïc Badé scored the goals that meant the United States men’s team opened their 2024 Olympics campaign with a 3-0 defeat.
In the end, the gulf in quality between the two teams was too much, but though the loss was an expected one (for neutrals and onlookers if not necessarily for the USA camp) it wasn’t always inevitable.
The first half was uneventful, which in these circumstances counted as a mini triumph for the United States.
Marko Mitrović’s team could not have been handed a tougher opening game. Not only is France the host of this tournament, but it is also the favorite to win the gold medal.
For uneventful, read also fairly dull. Again, the USA will have been perfectly happy with that as the score remained 0-0 at halftime.
In the opening period, France was limited to long-range efforts that either sailed into the stands behind the goal or safely into the hands of goalkeeper Patrick Schulte.
The biggest chance created in the first half actually came from the United States. Paxten Aaronson found space to the left in the area to test France goalkeeper Guillaume Restes who saved with his feet.
It was a similar story at the start of the second half. Some untidiness led to a few glimpses of space on the field for both teams, but again it was the USA who came closest when Djordje Mihailovic hit the bar with a well-struck shot from distance.
USA defended deep and struggled to get much going on the counterattack, often turning back when charging forward rather than having outlets on the run beyond the France defence.
A team like this France one can force a defensive gameplan on its opposition, regardless of whether that is what its opposition set out to do.
Some of the USA’s build-up play was scrappy, but this can sometimes be the case in the opening game of an international tournament as players settle into the rhythm of the new environment and get used to playing matches with new teammates.
France itself was hardly fluid, but its superiority eventually showed thanks to two moments of quality from Lacazette and Olise.
Lacazette is the captain and one of the three overage players in this France U23 team. His goal gave the impression of a player who had had enough of the dull stalemate and wanted to kickstart the game for a team that had been uninspiring to that point.
His shot, hit from outside the area perhaps earlier than Schulte expected, was not the cleanest hit, but had enough power to bounce past the outstretched USA goalkeeper into the bottom corner.
When the defensive team goes a goal down, as the USA did following Lacazette’s strike, what does it do next?
The answer for the USA was to almost score an equaliser. A header from Aaronson produced a brilliant reflex save from Restes, and moments later another header, this time from John Tolkin, hit the foot of the post.
USA should have been level. The chance for Tolkin especially was a great opportunity to grab a goal.
Lacazette’s opener had roused the USA into action. It also roused a sporting spectacle out of this previously mundane contest, and the crowd responded in kind.
Then, almost inevitably, the United States’ failed push for an equaliser was followed by a response from France.
This time it was Olise who found the bottom corner of Schulte’s goal—the same spot into which Lacazette put the opener, but in a more emphatic manner.
Center-back Loic Balde added a third from a corner—a set-piece goal which the United States will have been disappointed to concede.
Nathan Harriel had the USA’s third good chance from a header, from Jack McGlynn’s cross in added time, but it flew wide.
This USA team will not be judged on this game against France but on upcoming matches against New Zealand and Guinea.
There were promising moments to take from this opening game as well as some areas for concern. France didn’t have to work too hard for this 3-0 win.
Two shots from distance and a goal from a set piece will be considered poor goals to concede — the type that can and should be avoided.
They were the negatives for this game, as shown bluntly in the scoreline, but the positive slant is that those moments will be seen as ones which can be improved upon on the training ground going forward.
The USA will have to go on the attack to win its upcoming games and hope New Zealand and Guinea also suffer something similar at the hands of France.
