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Sam Borden, ESPN Senior Writer
MARSEILLE, France — After a chaotic, controversial and comical day of Olympic soccer, the U.S. men’s team finally returned to the Summer Olympics, but France was left out of the long-anticipated celebration.
Given the relative madness of Wednesday’s match – which was delayed by several hours due to a shocking fan-invasion against Argentina and highlighted by a VAR-infused ending – the party atmosphere at the Velodrome felt almost quaint. But in this tournament’s sprint, every result counts, and France’s 3-0 win over the United States gave at least the majority of the 67,000 fans a reason to applaud Thierry Henry’s squad at the end of the evening. When playing at home, a medal is the least you can hope for. blues.
The U.S. standards are certainly low, but Marko Mitrovic’s men were ambitious and will surely be disappointed to lose by such a lopsided score, especially after looking relatively good for at least an hour in the first Olympic men’s competition since 2008.
“I don’t think it was a fair result,” Mitrovic said afterwards. “We didn’t deserve to lose like this, but we have to learn from it.”
The concept of gaining experience is prominent in this under-23 tournament (with three exceptions per team), where most of the game’s top stars (including Christian Pulisic) and nearly all of the players on the USMNT Copa America roster are spending preseason with their club teams instead of competing here. For Americans, this is as much about the future as it is the present.
So how did they perform in the opening game? It was varied, but Kevin Paredes looked confident with his crosses, Nathan Hariel was good up and down the field, and Djordje Mihajlovic and John Tolkien both hit the post with headers that could have been the game-changers if they had hit them an inch or two further in the opposite direction.
“We played against one of the best teams in the tournament and I think we showed ourselves for 60 minutes,” said Gianluca Busio. “But we know that in a tournament like this you can’t lose focus, (and) I think that’s what happened.”
The United States collapsed due to an unfortunate combination of poor defensive errors and France’s individual talent. The decisive sequence was brutal. Mihailovic hit the crossbar with his right foot from beyond the penalty area in the 59th minute, but France almost immediately turned the other way.
While Mihajlovic fired high, Alexandre Lacazette, one of France’s three over-age players, fired low and took full advantage of a slow Boucio to beat him and curl the ball into the far corner.
After five years at Arsenal, the wily striker who now plays for Lyon, was grateful to the U.S. defence for keeping him at bay for so long.
“They were really aggressive and compact,” he said. “They played better than I thought they would.”
Defender Walker Zimmerman, one of the USA cover players, was visibly upset after Lacazette’s goal, shouting at his team-mates to keep level. The USA almost got back on track, but Paxten Aronson’s close-range header was saved brilliantly by Guillaume Restes, and Tolkien followed up with a back-post effort that hit the floor. On the sideline, Mitrovic held his head in his hands in frustration.
Lacazette had the French crowd cheering wildly when he passed to Michael Ollis for France’s second goal within 10 minutes. And just as Bouchio was slow to deny Lacazette in the opener, Aaronson was also slow to rush at Ollis from distance. Both times, France made them pay.
“That’s what we talked about,” Mitrovic said. “That team has so many players who are good enough to play 25 yards from goal.”
Disappointment aside, France coach Henry had plenty of praise for his American players. He was surprised by their defensive style and added that, at least initially, the Americans may have handled the crowd better than his own players. And while Henry was pleased to see Loik Bade score with five minutes left, his bigger point for France applied to the Americans. “This game means nothing without the next game,” Henry said.
That’s certainly true. The next challenge for the U.S. is against New Zealand on Saturday. The U.S. needs to win this game, just as they expect to win the final against Guinea. If they can win both games, they have a good chance of advancing to the quarterfinals.
In fact, despite the loss, the U.S. is still looking to make it out of the group stage and has openly talked about making history: No U.S. men’s team has ever won a medal in a modern Olympics.
“That was our goal from the beginning,” Bushio said. “And just because there have been some setbacks doesn’t mean it’s still impossible.”
Mihailovic was even more direct. After seeing how the U.S. played in the first period, he said there was nothing he would like more than a rematch with France later in the tournament.
“I think we need to get out of the group,” he said. “Then we can see them in the final.”
