USMNT
Medals on their Minds
May 23, 2024
Every amateur athlete has the goal to compete at an Olympics and for 18 U-23 USMNT players, they will get that chance this summer in France. It’s been 16 years since the men’s soccer team qualified to play in the Olympics when they failed to get out of the Group Stage in China.
Since 1992 when age rules changed to a U-23 roster the USMNT has only played in four of the eight Olympics, with only one successful tournament in Australia in 2000 when they finished fourth and chance to win their first medal since 1904.
Rosters & Player Selection
The Olympics isn’t a FIFA tournament so clubs aren’t required to release players for this tournament, which has impacted the quality that the U-23 USMNT has been able to use in past tournaments, which personally I think is a miss for FIFA not to promote this and the players who play in it more.
The Olympic squads allow for 22 players, seven of which are available as match substitutes with the remaining four available as alternates. All squads are required to have three goalkeepers and at least 15 of the 18 players must be born on or after January 1, 2001, which allows for a maximum of three overage players
Each team is required to send at least a 35-player provisional roster no later than 30 days before the first match, however, this list is non-binding and can still be added before their first Olympic match.
Player Pool
The U-23 USMNT will be coached by Marko Mitrović who was hired as manager in September of 2023 and will be tasked with helping put together a squad that will compete for a medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in France.
Since the fall of 2023, the U-23 USMNT has had three camps. Below are the players who have been part of at least one of those camps which likely comprises the core group of players who will be part of the U-23 USMNT roster.
John Dorton/USSF/Getty Images for USSF
Goalkeepers (5)
Chris Brady-Chicago Fire (MLS)*
John Pulskamp-Sporting Kansas City (MLS)
Chituru Odunze- Charlotte FC (MLS)
Patrick Schulte-Columbus Crew (MLS)*
Gabriel Slonina-Eupen (Belgium)*
Defenders (8)
George Campbell- CF Montréal (MLS)
Brandan Craig- Philadelphia Union (MLS)
Maximilian Dietz- Greuther Fürth (Germany)
Nathan Harriel-Philadelphia Union (MLS)
Bryan Reynolds- Westerlo (Belgium)*
John Tolkin-New York Red Bulls (MLS)*
Jonathan Tomkinson- Bradford City (England)
Caleb Wiley- Atlanta United FC (MLS)*
Players of note who are eligible who haven’t been called in recently
Justin Che, Mauricio Cuevas, Jonathan Gomez, Jalen Neal, Josh Wynder
Midfielders (10)
Paxten Aaronson-Vitesse (Netherlands)*
Josh Atencio- Seattle Sounders FC (MLS)
Cole Bassett-Colorado Rapids (MLS)
Gianluca Busio-Venezia (Italy)*
Benjamin Cremaschi- Inter Miami CF (MLS)
Daniel Edelman-New York Red Bulls (MLS)
Jack McGlynn-Philadelphia Union (MLS)*
Aidan Morris-Columbus Crew (MLS)*
Tanner Tessmann-Venezia (Italy)*
Obed Vargas-Seattle Sounders FC (MLS)
Players of note who are eligible who haven’t been called in recently
Noel Buck, Rokas Pukštas
Forwards (12)
Agustin Anello-Sparta Rotterdam (Netherlands)
Esmir Bajraktarevic-New England Revolution (MLS)*
Taylor Booth-Utrecht (Netherlands)*
Cade Cowell-Guadalajara (Mexico)
Johan Gomez-Eintracht Braunschweig (Germany)
Brian Gutiérrez-Chicago Fire (MLS)*
Bernard Kamungo-FC Dallas (MLS)
Diego Luna-Real Salt Lake (MLS)
Duncan McGuire-Orlando City SC (MLS)
Kevin Paredes-VfL Wolfsburg (Germany)*
Indiana Vassilev-St. Louis City SC (MLS)
Griffin Yow-Westerlo (Belgium)*
Players of note who are eligible who haven’t been called in recently
Ricardo Pepi
The Men’s Olympic roster can also consist of up to three overage players. In a recent interview, Gregg Berhalter named three possible players Auston Trusty, Brandon Vazquez, and Walker Zimmerman as options, all of which fall into areas of need for the U-23 USMNT. I also believe other options for overage players could be Kellyn Acosta and Jordan Pefok.
Past Olympics Results
1992 Summer Olympics – Spain
Alexi Lalas X Account
Played in Group A with Poland, Italy, and Kuwait
Finished 3rd in their group and 9th overall with 1 Win, 1 Draw, and 1 Loss, GF-6, GA-5
Steve Snow led the team with 2 goals
Manager- Lothar Osiander
The U-23 USMNT played quite well in the Group Stage and if it hadn’t been for their hard-fought 2-1 loss to Italy they would have advanced out of the group.
Featured USMNT Players
Brad Friedel
Alexi Lalas
Mike Burns
Claudio Reyna
Joe-Max Moore
Cobi Jones
Chris Henderson
1996 Summer Olympics – United States (Host)
Getty Images
Played in Group A with Argentina, Portugal, and Tunisia
Finished 3rd in their group and 10th overall with 1 Win, 1 Draw, and 1 Loss, GF-4, GA-4
Brian Maisonneuve led the team with 2 goals
Manager- Bruce Arena
As hosts, the U-23 USMNT played well during the group stage, but not well enough to advance to the knockout stage. Argentina who was one of the teams in the group with the US would make it to the gold medal match but ended up losing 3-2 to Nigeria.
Featured USMNT Players
Kasey Keller*
Eddie Pope
Alexi Lalas*
Jovan Kirovski
Claudio Reyna
Frankie Hejduk
*Overage player
2000 Summer Olympics – Australia
Getty Images
Played in Group C with Cameroon, Kuwait, Czech Republic
Finished 1st in their group and 4th overall with 1 Win, 3 Draws, and 2 Losses, GF-9, GA-11
Peter Vagenas led the team with 3 goals
Manager- Clive Charles
The 2000 Olympics for the U-23 USMNT has been their greatest success to date. The US would play for the bronze medal against Chile a match they would end up losing 2-0. There would be five players from this roster who would be part of the 2002 FIFA World Cup team that advanced to the quarter-finals losing to eventual runners-up Germany 1-0.
Featured USMNT Players
Brad Friedel*
Jeff Agoos*
John O’Brien
Frankie Hejduk*
Ben Olsen
Chris Albright
Landon Donovan
Josh Wolff
Tim Howard
*Overage player
2004 Summer Olympics – Greece – DNQ
The U-23 USMNT finished 4th in the Concacaf Pre-Olympic Tournament with the top two teams advancing to the Olympics. The team was managed by Glenn Myernick.
2008 Summer Olympics – China
Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Played in Group B with Nigeria, Netherlands, Japan
Finished 3rd in their group and 9th overall with 1 Win, 1 Draw, and 1 Loss, GF-4, GA-4
Sacha Kljestan led the team with 2 goals
Manager- Piotr Nowak
The U-23 USMNT played in a very good group and needed a win or a draw help to advance to the knockout stage, which they weren’t able to accomplish. Eight players on this Olympic squad were on the roster for the 2009 Confederation Cup team that ended Spain’s 35-match unbeaten streak and finished 2nd after losing to Brazil in the Final 3-2.
Featured USMNT Players
Freddy Adu
Jozy Altidore
Michael Bradley
Charlie Davies
Maurice Edu
Benny Feilhaber
Brad Guzan*
Stuart Holden
Sacha Kljestan
Brian McBride*
Michael Orozco
Michael Parkhurst*
Marvell Wynne
*Overage player
2012 Summer Olympics – Great Britain – DNQ
The U-23 USMNT finished 5th in the Concacaf Pre-Olympic Tournament with the top two teams advancing to the Olympics. The team was managed by Caleb Porter.
2016 Summer Olympics – Brazil– DNQ
The U-23 USMNT finished 3rd in the Concacaf Pre-Olympic Tournament with the top two teams advancing to the Olympics. The team was managed by Andi Herzog.
2020 Summer Olympics – Japan– DNQ
The U-23 USMNT finished 3rd in the Concacaf Pre-Olympic Tournament with the top two teams advancing to the Olympics. The team was managed by Jason Kreis.
Expectations and Predictions
The group of U-23 USMNT has an opportunity to make a deep run at the 2024 Olympics in France with many possible players looking to get club transfers and work their way into the national team after this summer.
With the many failures of the USSF when it comes to qualifying and putting in a plan of success as it relates to the U-23 team, I think they have done quite well in building a quality player pool that should allow them a chance for a medal this summer.
As mentioned earlier clubs are not required to release players for the Olympics and my expectations and predictions are based on the 40 or so players mentioned above who have been part of recent camps along with the overaged players likely to be considered.
While the U-23 USMNT is in a group with the host France they should still be able to get out of the group by beating Guinea and New Zealand, which is the minimum we should expect from this group, but will likely need at least five points to guarantee them a spot in the knockout stage. Ideally, they would be able to find their way to the semi-final and give themselves a chance to win a bronze medal, but that might be asking too much.
My hope is that the USMNT will be able to pull in a handful of young talented players from this pool into the national team squad to help provide needed depth while helping phase out some of the aging veterans.