You can read Bryan Graham’s full match report below:
So on this sour note, the US men’s return to the Olympic soccer stage is over. There will be some good memories of offensive explosions against New Zealand and Guinea, and they played better against France than they did against Morocco.
The postgame discussion, though, will continue for quite some time. How could a team of talented young professionals look so unready for this level of competition?
These Moroccan players will surely go on to have fabulous careers. (The goalkeeper, who had nothing to do in this game other than punching clear one time, already has.) The referee should be sent to deal with Under-9s in the US suburbs along with me.
Thanks for gritting it out and reading this far. See you for another event soon.
Lots of email coming in now:
Ted Storer:
In regard to your post at 78 minutes at Darryl Taits – do you really think that the addition of any of the “attacking” players from the full US MNT would have made a difference in this game? I’m not watching, but the USMNT hasn’t controlled the midfield against a superior opponent in years . . if ever; unless the opponent wanted us too – ie v. Netherlands in Qatar. It looks like Morocco was up for the game, had a superior game plan and superior players. I don’t think Renya, Balogun, or Pulisic makes a difference in the outcome.
Maybe not, but at least the Moroccan team couldn’t have devoted all its energy to bottling up Paredes.
Alexander Kundu Taylor:
The only highlight of the game was a small British child having to be pried off of a railing by his parents while trying to fight his way back up the stairs to watch the last 10 minutes of the game. His dad was yelling, “you’re not even American mate!”
To be fair, I think that’s me when I’m being dragged out of an English pub.
Full time: Morocco 4-0 USA
Someone, maybe Paredes, is on the ground in tears, and Hakimi comes over to offer words of encouragement.
That’s about the nicest thing anyone can say about this game.
But to give credit where it’s due – this Moroccan team is indeed outstanding. They managed to pull together a talented group of players, which not every country in the Olympic men’s soccer tournament is able to do, and they showed their quality here.
They didn’t need two gifts from a referee who also allowed goal celebrations to go on for several minutes and allowed Moroccan players to boot the ball away to delay restarts.
Great performance by Morocco. It was a beautiful game wrapped in an ugly one.
Daniel Reilly: “My earliest soccer memory was being outraged at Reyna Sr. getting elbowed in the face by Brazil in 1994! The rage compounds, because the other 10 arent strong enough to make the bullies pay. Frustrating. But we do have two tickets to Paredes with Kevin. He will be very good.”
I think you mean Tab Ramos?
And yes, Paredes is the player who looked the best.
Tessmann takes another shot. Sure.
We’ll have five minutes of stoppage time, from which I will forever praise any US player who doesn’t lose his temper.
And Morocco make a substitute after their interminable celebration.
Did the USA do something to Morocco and Argentina (home of the referee) on the geopolitical stage before this game that we don’t know about? They’ve won. It’s over. Get on with it.
Goal. Morocco 4-0 USA (Maouhoub 90 pen)
Farcical.
This referee is pants, according to slang I just learned.
This might be the last international game this referee works. Ever.
Penalty to Morocco.
88 min: Morocco earn a corner. And another.
Morocco make another sub, and they’re taking their time with it for some reason. Oh wait, it’s delayed. The referee is coming over to discuss something.
Oh no … he’s going to the VAR check to see if there’s a handball on Harriel. It would be an atrocious call. His arm is tucked in to his body.
Tim Smith has gotten back in touch to say “mea culpa”: “Sorry Beau, you were correct. This team is pants.”
A quick Google search tells me that means “rubbish.”
86 min: Tessmann spots the keeper off his line and shoots from midfield. It goes wide. That would’ve at least added some entertainment.
85 min: There’s a fine line between gamesmanship and sophistication. Many of the Moroccan fouls were directed at one player, Kevin Paredes. An alert referee might have noticed that and given a yellow card for persistent infringement, but this referee is rather passive (except when three players swing at the ball and one is judged to have committed a foul).
But they were prepared. They knew where the USA were most dangerous. It’s a flashback to an old World Cup game in which Claudio Reyna, the most talented attacking player the USA had at the time, was knocked down within the first minute. It sent a message.
Darryl Tait writes:
A whiners perspective: Morocco U23 vs the US U23, straight up, would have been an even and fun match. Their overage players include one of the best outside backs in the world, and we just chose three dudes. And there you have it.
The rest of the story is the usual refrain for US men’s teams: soft play and slow passing will lose against aggression and quick attacks, every time.
I’d argue that Zimmerman and Robinson weren’t bad picks. I don’t think they bear the brunt of the blame for the goals or for the USA’s lack of possession.
But yes – a game with Reyna, Tillman, Balogun et al would certainly be more competitive than this.
78 min: If I’m Christian Pulisic or Weston McKennie or Gio Reyna, I’m on the phone with the US Soccer Federation asking for a friendly against Morocco that might not be so friendly. This is the kind of game that will be used as locker-room motivation for years to come.
And for the USA, that might be the only good that comes from it – other than perhaps a reassessment about how all the players coming through Major League Soccer’s youth programs can look so naive and outclassed in a game like this.
Here comes Benjamin Cremaschi at last. He plays for Inter Miami. You might have heard of some of his teammates. Caleb Wiley is also on. Tolkin and Aaronson are out.
Morocco are making three changes – again, surely designed to protect players in danger of picking up a petulant yellow card and missing the semifinal.
77 min: Tessmann embellishes some mild contact and draws a foul. The referee apparently is still there. He just doesn’t pay attention when Morocco kick the ball away (again – automatic yellow, not a matter of opinion) or spend 2-3 minutes putting on a Lady Gaga halftime show every time they score.
74 min: Morocco will push this to four or five. Another shot on Schulte.
Now they’re showing off even more, and Aaronson angrily knocks down Targhalline to earn a yellow.
This has to be one of the most frustrating things these US players have ever experienced. They’re being openly mocked here by a team that’s on another level.
73 min: Josh Atencio replaces Jack McGlynn.
Eliesse Ben Seghir replaces Abde Ezzalzouli. You’d have to think Morocco’s goal for the rest of this game is making sure no more players get a second yellow card for the tournament and miss the semifinal to which they are surely headed now.
Goal! Morocco 3-0 USA (Hakimi 70)
Patrick Schulte will have nightmares about this goal. So will the defenders and midfielders who failed to get in the way as Morocco’s star right back, who plays for Paris St. Germain in this stadium, streaks toward the top of the area and unleashes a shot that absolutely should have been saved. Schulte was a step late getting there and took an awkward dive.
Morocco does a scripted goal celebration like an NFL team that doesn’t mind getting a 15-yard penalty. In fact, it’s still going.
I think the referee left early.
69 min: And as a reminder, nearly every player in the Moroccan lineup is already on a yellow. They’ve had a couple of testy encounters in the group stage, one of which wound up lasting several hours when you include the time to clear the stands.
Booth takes on the defense on the right flank and forces Morocco to clear for a throw-in. Harriel takes it, but it bounces rather harmlessly in the penalty area.
67 min: Play has resumed.
I did say the game would be better off with a goal that didn’t come from a soft penalty, and indeed it is, at least for the neutral of the Morocco fans.
Foul deep in the US third, and a Moroccan player kicks the ball away deep into the stands. Ahem … referee? I don’t know if you’ve done your recertification in a while (mine is coming up), but that’s an automatic yellow card, sir.
We’re seeing a replay now. The ball went barely halfway across the line. The goal will surely stand.
McGuire and Booth replace Mihailovic and Yow, neither of whom have seen much of the ball.
Goal! Morocco 2-0 USA (Akhomach 63)
The danger in pressing forward, of course, is leaving space at the back. Ezzalzouli is off to the races in space down the left. Akhomach races through the area to the near post unimpeded. Cross, one-touch, goal.
Morocco celebrate for a needlessly long time.
There’s a VAR check, maybe thinking the ball went out of play at some point, but I’d doubt it.
63 min: If the USA can get through the next 10 minutes, maybe …
oh, never mind …
61 min: Ohhhh, that was close. Morocco win the ball at midfield and play ahead to Rahimi. Zimmerman is at first indecisive about whether to try to intercept the pass, but he comes back to chase instead. He slides at the top of the area and just manages to tackle the ball away before Rahimi tumbles over him. Nearly a breakaway, nearly a free kick, maybe even nearly a penalty. But Zimmerman did just enough there.
60 min: But while that chance was solid, the USA also had awkward spacing. In two cases, two players were in roughly the same space.
To be fair, it’s not as if this team has had much time to train together.
It’s still much, much better.
58 min: Tolkin heads up the left flank, and his cross is deflected for a corner. The USA play it short and have a long spell of possession that ends with a CHANCE … as Zimmerman heads it to the center for the onrushing Miles Robinson. Maybe Robinson should’ve left it for Aaronson?
In any case, by far the best US attacking sequence.
57 min: The USA make Morocco chase a bit, but it’s deep in their own half.
Tessmann plays down the flank, but the USA can’t control.
Hakimi crosses, and while there’s no Moroccan player there, Schulte doesn’t clear it well. No danger, though, and as Paredes brings the ball forward, El Khanouss fouls him and gets a yellow. He would miss the semifinal.
54 min: Replay shows the veteran Moroccan goalkeeper, who goes by Munir, made an excellent play to punch clear.
A few seconds later, he drops to the ground and gets treatment.
53 min: Paredes tries a scissor kick and makes decent contact. Credit El Ouahdi with the brave block. A long throw-in almost catches Morocco in an awkward spot.
52 min: Paredes is fouled, but the USA can’t do anything useful with the free kick.
50 min: Rahimi goes to ground … we’ll say a bit easily. Zimmerman is befuddled and angered when the whistle blows, and I don’t blame him.
(I know – I always get in trouble when I mention that soccer players occasionally use theatrics to get what they want. But it happens. Sometimes.)
49 min: The captain, Tessmann, gets a head to the corner kick but can’t get his body behind it to get any power.
First USA shot on goal, at least, and they’re starting to look they’re in it.
48 min: OK, that’s more promising. The USA play to the right flank, it comes back to Aaronson, and he tees it up from the top of the area. Blocked out for a corner.
47 min: Tolkin intercepts a pass, and the USA will try building from the back.
Frankly, I’m not sure I wouldn’t go direct. Make Morocco run.
46 min: The USA come out pressing. Morocco are stuck back in their own half.
For a few seconds, at least. Morocco break free and win a corner.
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.
Updated
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?
Updated
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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