Amid chants of “U.S.A.,” the U.S. men’s football team ended a 24-year drought by reaching the Olympic quarterfinals with a 3-0 victory over Guinea on Tuesday.
The win in Saint-Etienne marks the team’s first appearance in the knockout stage since Sydney 2000, setting up a clash with Morocco in Paris on Friday.
“Right now I’m living this moment and we’ll analyze what it means once we are done with it,” U.S. coach Marko Mitrovic said.
Two goals from Kevin Paredes and a brilliant free kick from Djordje Mihailovic secured the victory that saw the U.S. advance in second place behind Group A winner France, which beat New Zealand 3-0.
The Americans – playing in the Olympics for the first time since Beijing 2008 – responded impressively to their opening 3-0 loss to France by winning back-to-back games against New Zealand and Guinea.
Next up is a Morocco team that finished atop Group B and beat Argentina along the way.
“I watched actually the first game against Argentina,” Mitrovic said. “I was in my room; our game was 9 p.m., theirs was 3 p.m. I actually think they are a very, very good team.”
A win against Morocco would see the U.S. emulate its performance in Sydney when it reached the semifinals.
“We came here to be who we are and I think we did it again today, and we just have to recover and go to the next game,” Mitrovic said.
Mihailovic, who hit the bar when the score was still goalless in the game against France, scored a curling free kick from the edge of the area to give the U.S. the lead in the 14th minute.
Paredes slotted in his first in the 31st and powered in another in the 75th.
In the quarterfinals, France will meet Argentina in a repeat of the World Cup final in Bordeaux on Friday. Argentina won that epic contest on penalties after a 3-3 draw in Qatar in 2022, and rivalries between the nations could be intensified by racist chants made by Argentina’s players after they won the Copa América this month.
“I won’t talk about it,” France coach Thierry Henry said Tuesday. “We just qualified. We’re going to play a game. My head is still into this game.”
France maintained its 100% record at the tournament with a victory over New Zealand in Marseille through goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta, Désiré Doué, and Arnaud Kalimuendo.
Thiago Almada scored a brilliant solo goal in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Ukraine – securing back-to-back victories after the shock opening defeat to Morocco. Claudio Echeverri sealed the win, but it wasn’t enough to advance atop Group B.
Morocco took top spot after beating Iraq 3-0 in Nice.
Morocco and Argentina were level on points and had identical goal differences and goals scored, but Morocco claimed first place due to its 2-1 win over Argentina at the start of the tournament.
Play was briefly suspended during the second half in Nice after a man holding a Palestinian flag invaded the pitch. He was swiftly removed by police. Several dozen riot police were then deployed along the field to prevent further incidents.
At the Parc des Princes in Paris, where Israel played Japan, fans held a banner that read “Genocide Olympics.”
Ibrahim Adel scored a pair of goals as Egypt advanced atop its group by beating Spain 2-1.
Spain had already reached the knockout round and was vying for a first-place finish in Group C but was instead leapfrogged after the defeat in Bordeaux.
The Dominican Republic played to a 1-1 tie with Uzbekistan, which had already been eliminated.
Second place for Spain means it will face Japan in the quarterfinals. Japan maintained its 100% record in Group D when Mao Hosoya scored in stoppage time to beat Israel 1-0.
Egypt will play Paraguay, which finished runner-up in Group D after Marcelo Fernandez’s goal secured a 1-0 win over Mali.
