The United States heads into its Olympic qualifying playoff against Colombia bearing both the brunt of national pressure and the knowledge that they’re coming up against, in many ways, superior opposition.
Failure to qualify for the Rio Olympics would constitute another dark mark in American development and reflect poorly on its current leaders. For all the insistence on bigger, better and more focused youth development from Jurgen Klinsmann, who doubles as U.S. Soccer’s Technical Director, Tab Ramos, the U.S. Youth Technical Director, and Andreas Herzog, coach of the US U-23 team, progress will ultimately be determined by getting results in matches like this.
Landon Donovan reflected on the task facing the US U-23 squad at the Olympic Media Summit earlier this month: “At this point in our history, any tournament we don’t qualify for is a failure. We should be, in this region, we should either be the best or very close to the best team in the region, so it’s important for us. It’s important for us to continue qualifying for these events. We have to.”
Donovan was part of the most successful US Olympic team to date, one that captured a Bronze Medal at the 2000 Sydney games.
The last US side to qualify for the Olympics did so in 2008. The US failed spectacularly in their qualification for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Failure to advance from a group containing El Salvador, Canada and Cuba raised immediate calls for an overhaul to the U-23 system.
America has taken the process of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics as seriously as any other participating nation. Camps, friendlies and a plethora of committed resources meant the US were favorites to directly qualify for Rio through the 2015 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship.
After demolishing Cuba, Panama and Canada in group play, the US was shocked by Honduras in the semi-finals, necessitating a victory over Canada in the third place match just to advance to this playoff.
For Colombia, they were desperately unlucky not to qualify directly for Rio. They finished second at the 2015 South American Youth Football Championship, ahead of both Uruguay and Brazil. In any other qualifying cycle this would’ve guaranteed them a place at the Olympics. However, since Brazil are hosting the tournament they automatically earned one of the guaranteed spots along with tournament winners, Argentina.
A playoff against the US now represents their ticket to Brazil. Many pundits claim that Colombia will be looking to put this tie beyond the American’s reach by hammering them in Colombia in the first leg. For the US, the key to the playoff will most likely be returning to Frisco, Texas, without having an insurmountable deficit to overcome.
Colombia U-23 vs. USA U-23
2016 Rio Olympics Qualifying Playoff | TV: FS1, UDN
First Leg: March 25 | 6 pm ET | Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Melendez, Barranquilla, Colombia
Second Leg: March 29 | 9:30 pm ET | Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas
USA's Key Players:
Jordan Morris | Seattle Sounders FC
US U-23: 11 appearances | 7 goals
Photo: @FOXSoccer | Twitter
Julian Green | Bayern Munich
US U-23: 5 appearances | 1 goal
Photo: @zesty_bayern | Twitter
Matt Miazga | Chelsea FC
US U-23: 3 appearances | 1 goal
Photo: @NBCSports | Twitter
Colombia's Key Players:
Juan Fernando Quintero | Rennes
Colombia U-23: 2 appearances | 1 goal
Photo: @FutbolmaniaRCN | Twitter
Rafael Santos Borré | Atlético Madrid
Colombia U-20: 15 appearances | 4 goals
Photo: @BarranquillaBAQ | Twitter
Andrés Rentería | Santos Laguna
Colombia U-20: 7 appearances | 2 goals
Photo: @YoDeportivo | Twitter
