USA set Olympic Record, put 4 past New Zealand en route to easy victory
It was undeniably a great night for the US Men’s Olympic Team, with an easy 4-1 victory over New Zealand. This should be a huge confidence boost heading into the final match versus Guinea. A win in that match would see the US through to the knockout stages, where 1 win means we’re playing for a medal.
We know there are some out there who will say “but it was New Zealand, we are supposed to beat them.” While those folks are right, there have been plenty of matches we were supposed to win but didn’t, so just be happy 😊. This was also a record-setting victory, as we’ve never scored 4 goals before in a Men’s Olympic Soccer match.
In our match preview we highlighted the midfield matchup between Tanner Tessman and Matthew Garbett. It’s fair to say Tessman dominated, as he controlled midfield and set the tempo of the game, while Garbett gave away a penalty on the USA’s first goal while creating little in attack.
Tessman wasn’t the only American to dominate their matchup, frankly it’s hard to find a spot on the pitch where New Zealand was even competitive. A combination of the USA coming out determined and New Zealand lacking intensity for 80 of the 90 minutes.
4 goals from 4 different goal scorers emphasizes the US dominance. Mihailovic, Zimmerman, Busio and Aaronson all scored. Each of the goals was a bit scruffy, with Mihailovic scoring off a PK and others involving goal mouth scrambles and/or deflected shots. You could say we were lucky but we dominated and when you put a team under that much pressure good things happen
match stats
takeaways from the game
We need aaronson on the ball more
He was dangerous all day, and even played well in the false 9 role after McGuire was subbed off. While his goal was a bit lucky with the deflection, he made an intelligent run to get in space and had a great first touch to set up the shot. Don’t forget he won the Golden Boot (most goals) and Golden Ball (best player) at the U-20 tournament where the USA qualified for the Olympics. He was somewhat hilariously called for a foul on this play, we think that’s a decision the ref would like to have another shot at.
our subs were more dangerous than starters up front
The front 3 of Aaronson, Yow, and Paredes/Booth looked so much more dangerous than the starting attack featuring McGuire and Mihailovic. Despite converting his PK, Mihailovic offered little and was subbed off in the 55th minute. We hope he got “the hook” rather than a rest. We are reiterating our call for Yow to start and to move Aaronson to the CAM role in place of Mihailovic.
We lack depth at rb and cb
Miles Robinson was solid at CB most of the game, and moved to RB after Nathan Harriel came off in the 69th minute. He was exposed there on New Zealand’s goal, as was the man who replaced him at CB, Nathan Dietz. Thus far we’ve yet to see Dietz do much in two substitute appearances. We may be better off putting Wiley or Tolkin at RB and letting Robinson stay central if Harriel had to come off again.
There is not much gap between busio and mcglynn
The two have shared the second CM role playing next to Tanner Tessman all tournament. Busio played well, scoring our 3rd before going off injured, but so did McGlynn after coming on. McGlynn made a great blind pass to set up Aaronson in space, had a goal called back for offsides, and hit the crossbar from outside the box. We’ll miss having extra legs in midfield if Busio can’t recover, but there’s not much of a drop-off in the starting 11.
In case you forgot, tanner tessman is good
Just watch this ball – this is something we’d expect to see from Bruno Fernandes at Man United, not from an American defensive midfielder.
what's next?
Most immediately, the US Women have a huge match against Germany at 3pm ET tomorrow (Sunday). We’ll be publishing our preview of that one next.
For the Men, we have it all to play for in the third and final group game against Guinea. Even though they lost to a team we just smoked, we can’t sleep on them. They gave France a tough game today and had two goals called back in the first half. That match will be at 1pm ET on Tuesday.
Here are the group standings heading into that match
You can find details on all the upcoming matches and recaps of the games so far at our US Olympic Soccer HQ. Bookmark that page to easily find broadcast details for all the US Olympic Soccer action.
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