Olympic Soccer Overview: US Teams' Best Bets and Expectations

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00:00A football Friday looking at training camp in the National

00:06Football League media days in college football stays a

00:10football Friday but with Olympic soccer conversation live

00:15right here on the early line on sports grid from Sporting

00:18News. Mike DeCoursey joins us here on this Friday to look

00:21back at the Olympic opener for the US women's national team

00:25and what is ahead for the men's national side at the Olympic

00:29Games in Paris after a 3-0 defeat to France in the opener

00:34on Wednesday afternoon. Mike, thank you so much for taking

00:36the time to join us here on this Friday morning ahead of

00:39the opening ceremonies this afternoon in Paris. Oh, happy

00:43to do it. Mike, we've had some action before the actual

00:47opening ceremonies at the Paris Olympic Games because of

00:51the soccer tournaments getting started. Yesterday, the United

00:54States women's national team with an easy opener over Zambia

00:59as we expected. They were a minus 3,500 Moneyline favorite.

01:03The United States wins 3-0. They scored early and often

01:08led by a wonder goal from Trinity Rodman. But Mike, just

01:11because they win 3-0 and they were the heavy favorites to

01:14do exactly that in a lopsided opening match. What did you

01:18make of the Americans opener in Paris? There were some good

01:22elements of the game, some really incisive passing

01:26that was nice to see that had been missing from this team

01:30for a while. Rose Lavelle coming back and playing 45 minutes

01:34was a good sign after she missed the final friendly in

01:38advance of the Olympics with an injury and that was an

01:40important component of how it went. She only played 45 minutes

01:43because she only had to play 45 minutes. I did think they

01:47missed some opportunities to make it a much more decisive

01:50victory and in Olympic soccer, just winning in any major

01:54tournament, just winning isn't always enough because you

01:58have another power in Germany that you play in your next

02:03game on Sunday. And if you beat Germany, then it doesn't

02:07matter that you blew four or five chances against Zambia

02:10to make it worse. But if you draw, then it could make a

02:13huge difference. And that's why I thought that yesterday's

02:16performance against a team that only had 10 players for

02:20the final 50 or 60 minutes of the game, only getting three

02:25goals was a major miss. Mike, if we take a look and maybe

02:29reset the market here after a game, or should I say a day

02:32of games here from the women's side. Spain's a plus 175

02:35favorite. The US is a two-to-one favorite. Did anybody give

02:38you a positive outlook yesterday? So you know what? Maybe

02:41I didn't expect this or I liked what I saw yesterday out

02:43of these group pairings. Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what to

02:47make of Australia with Sam Kerr injured, but the fact that

02:53that Germany was able to beat them as decisively as they

02:57did 3-0 there and Australia is a top 10 opponent. The US

03:03beating Zambia 3-0. Zambia is rated 64th in the world.

03:07Australia has been a factor in a lot of major tournaments.

03:11And again, they are missing their absolute best player,

03:13one of the best in the world with Kerr being injured. But

03:18to take them apart as they did is a really positive sign

03:21for them. And I think they have to have a lot of confidence

03:25going into Sunday's game in Marseille against the Americans.

03:30Mike, we had Kyle Bond from Sporting News on the show

03:32the past two days to preview both of the Olympic soccer

03:35tournaments and he has shared the frank reality of women's

03:38international soccer. The United States used to be leaps

03:41and bounds in front of many nations. The world is caught

03:45up. We were bounced from the recent World Cup in the

03:47knockout round. We only finished with a bronze medal at

03:51the Tokyo Games a few summers ago. Spain now leapfrogs

03:56the United States as the favorite to win the gold medal

03:59in the women's soccer tournament at the Olympic Games plus

04:03175. The US was a couple of cents in front of the Spanish

04:08side entering yesterday's opening matches. Now, let's go

04:11to the men's youth tournament that we know at the Olympic

04:14Games that got off to a wild start with Morocco and Argentina

04:19on Wednesday afternoon. And for the Americans, they opened

04:23against the host nation in the gold medal favorites in France

04:27in France won 3-0. So a game for the United States tomorrow

04:32that is potentially a must win against New Zealand. Right

04:37now the United States Mike a minus 170 money line favorite.

04:41Do you agree with that sentiment? Is this a must win for

04:44the Americans to advance in Olympic soccer? Well, I think

04:49I think they have to look at it as a must win because there

04:52are probably some mathematical ways they could do it without

04:54it. But if you're going to advance and matter you have to

04:58be able to go out and beat New Zealand. I did not like a lot

05:02of what I saw on even though they hung with France didn't

05:08go down into the lock because that's terrific goal in the

05:11second half. I thought that they missed something and I

05:15still go back until they do something in the absence of Diego

05:19Luna create something in the absence, even if they don't

05:23win if they create something. I mean, we saw Dominic Maguire

05:26out there basically stranded because nobody could connect

05:28to him. Dominic Maguire the striker for the US had almost

05:31no service at all. Luna's the best creator in the in the

05:35young American soccer division and he may be the best creator

05:39America has at this point even considering the senior side

05:44and they left them at home from this Olympic team, even

05:46after he'd been terrific in the qualification tournament,

05:50the the regional u-20 tournament that got the Americans

05:53to the Olympics for the first time since 2008 Marco

05:57Mitrovich decided to leave him home for whatever reason

06:00has never fully explained it and that create they yeah,

06:04they did hit a post on an opportunity off a free kick

06:08and they did have one shot from outside the box go off

06:11the the crossbar, but that's not the same as connecting

06:15with your striker and giving him legitimate opportunities.

06:19So I until I see something in that range something something

06:23that shows that they can connect the midfield to the to

06:26the forward line. I'm going to be skeptical about how far

06:30this US team goes as we talk about expectations here.

06:34Mike also because in the tournament itself France is the

06:36favorite at a plus 175 Team USA did go up against France

06:40and lost three to nothing. What are reasonable expectations

06:43looking like moving forward for Team USA in this tournament?

06:46Is it the win a couple games get to the knockout stage?

06:49Like what would Team USA walk away with this Olympic, you

06:52know tournament and say, you know what that was pretty good.

06:54Let's get a head start on what we need to do next until

06:57you see who you play in the knockout rounds.

06:59You can't say well they have to make a semi or they have

07:02to win a medal or whatever because you don't really know

07:05but they absolutely should win the next two games if they

07:08want to feel that this tournament was a success and the

07:11other element honestly of it.

07:12That's really important is finding players.

07:15That's what the Olympics is really all about.

07:17If you go back to 08 they had a disappointing result.

07:21They had a great chance against the Netherlands in 2008

07:24to get a result and they and they let that get away and

07:29in the final stages on a free kick, but they also got out

07:32of that tournament Stuart Holden who went on to be a significant

07:36player for the US before he was hurt and Maurice Adu who

07:39played very well in the 2010 World Cup.

07:43So there are players out there perhaps that they can that

07:47can find themselves in this tournament and show that they're

07:50capable of being senior national team players.

07:53No one did that at all in the France game, but that's really

07:57an important component of what being at the Olympics is about.

08:01You saw the odds there for the US in terms of winning gold

08:05tied for the 10th best price alongside Israel with a 42 to

08:091 number 16 to 1 for the Americans in Group A that features

08:13France their next match tomorrow morning against New Zealand

08:17and Guinea as well outside of that Mike is opening ceremonies

08:21to get started today in Paris.

08:23What other sports are you looking forward to at the Olympiad?

08:27Well, I am a basketball person.

08:28So I'm very intrigued by what happens with the men's national

08:34team in France.

08:35They did not look great a lot of times in the five games that

08:40they played in advance of this tournament, but they did not

08:43have Kevin Durant yet and I wasn't happy to see Tyrese Halliburton's

08:47role diminished Halliburton is the one guy on this team that

08:51will pass first.

08:53Maybe LeBron beyond that, but there's not a lot of pass first

08:58guys.

08:58They need to be more connected than they were in those five

09:01exhibition games.

09:03Certainly so Tyrese Halliburton barely played in the final

09:07two exhibitions Steve Kerr's decision.

09:09It would seem at this moment.

09:11Mike DiCorsi from Sporting News.

09:13We appreciate the time.

09:14Enjoy the opening ceremonies on this Friday over in France.

09:18We'll talk soon more on the early line comes your way up

09:21next.

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