Three years ago, the United States Under-23 men’s national team missed out on Olympic participation in a COVID-19 postponed qualification process for the third-consecutive Olympiad.
At the time, Djordje Mihailovic thought his chance at being an Olympian passed him by along with the under-23 age requirement for the FIFA-categorized youth tournament, however the 25-year-old creative midfielder is being given another crack at the bat in Paris this summer as one of the team’s three overage players.
“Whenever someone asks me ‘What does it mean?’ I don’t know how to answer that because there’s not many words to describe this experience,” said Mihailovic in an interview with SBI. “In the Olympics for men’s soccer, you essentially get one chance at your age group to experience this, to accomplish this goal, this dream that you have to play in the Olympics.
“In America, this is the biggest sporting event for Americans, I think, in terms of athletes showing what they can do on the biggest stage. Not only in soccer but in life, it’s rare to have a second chance. When Marko [Mitrović] said that I’m on the team, if Colorado accepts [the call up], I’m for sure taking this chance.”
Interestingly, Mihailovic’s relationship with head coach Marko Mitrović dates back to before the Chicago Fire homegrown ever signed a professional contract. While still a part of the club’s academy, Mihailovic’s talent from an early age earned him the opportunity to train with the Fire first team where Mitrović joined as an assistant coach following his U-20 World Cup triumph as an assistant with his native Serbia — another link he shares with Mihailovic, who is of paternal Serbian descent.
“The first time I met him he tried speaking to me in Serbian so I had to tell him I don’t understand Serbian. That was my first impression,” Mihailovic joked. “When we first connected on the field, he came straight from winning the U-20…
Source link : https://sbisoccer.com/2024/07/coached-by-a-familiar-face-djordje-mihailovic-aims-for-gold-at-paris-olympics
Author : Justin Ruderman
Publish date : 2024-07-23 13:00:05
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