USA out of Olympics after thrashing by Morocco

Team USA was knocked out of the 2024 Olympics at the hands of Morocco on Friday. The American men were essentially outplayed by the formidable North African side for much of the match. In the end, Morocco thumped the USA by a score of 4-0 to end USA’s hopes of an Olympic medal in men’s soccer.

The Americans previously qualified for the quarterfinals by finishing second in Group A behind France. After dropping their first matchup of the competition against the hosts, USA then topped New Zealand and Guinea. As a result, the American men advanced to the knockout stage at the Olympics for the first time since 2000.

Morocco, on the other hand, won Group B thanks to their fairly controversial victory against Argentina on July 24th. The two teams finished level on points, but Morocco edged out the South Americans due to their victory. The African side is led by the tournament’s current leading scorer Soufiane Rahimi. Paris Saint-Germain star Achraf Hakimi also captains the team.

Morocco takes early advantage thanks to penalty kick

Team USA manager Marko Mitrović only made one change to his starting lineup compared to their previous match. Jack McGlynn, making his first start of the 2024 Olympics, replaced Maximilian Dietz in midfield. The move was seen as a way to give the Americans more options in attack.

Both sides had decent scoring chances in the early stages of the matchup. Paxten Aaronson sent a shot just wide of the post from a dangerous position following a free kick in the ninth minute. The attacker, however, was slightly offside and a goal would not have counted even if he could have converted the chance. Goalkeeper Patrick Schulte then made a nice save on a shot by Ilias Akhomach four minutes later.

After a bit of a dry spell for both sides, Morocco earned a penalty kick in the 26th minute of the match. American defender Nathan Harriel first bizarrely played the ball out of play to give his opponents a corner kick instead of…

Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/olympics/usa-out-of-olympics-after-thrashing-by-morocco/

Author : Chris Moore

Publish date : 2024-08-02 15:37:06

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