U.S. men’s soccer march to Olympic medal reviving weary fans

SAINT-ÉTIENNE, France — In the 42nd minute on Tuesday night, Kevin Paredes took the ball down the right-hand side, shimmied in front of a defender so he could get toward the end line, and then cut a ball back toward the middle, where Griffin Yow had zagged from the other side of the field to meet it. Hitting his shot first time, Yow beat the Guinean goalkeeper, only to drop his head as the ball banged off the side of the post and out of play.

It was a missed chance. But within seconds, Yow looked up and made eye contact with Paredes, who was moving his hands in a circle as if to say, “Keep going and we’ll do it again.”

That notion — that another move, another chance, another push forward is always right there in the offing — has been the most entertaining part of this U.S. men’s Olympic team’s performance so far. And after a summer of disappointment and frustration from the senior U.S. men’s national team, it also might be exactly what USMNT fans are craving.

Now, are most players on this team raw? Of course. And are the Olympics on the same level as the Copa América? Clearly not. This is a mostly under-23 tournament on the men’s side with less significance than the top-tier international events.

But it is still the Olympics. These are still meaningful games being played. And after beating Guinea 3-0, the Americans are into the quarterfinals as they chase an Olympic medal — something the U.S. men haven’t ever accomplished in the modern era. Say what you will, but that is still a piece of history that would give American fans a reason to be excited and joyful — two emotions that have been difficult to come by recently.

Walker Zimmerman, one of the three overage players on the team, was part of the up-and-down USMNT performance at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, then watched as many of his teammates flamed out in the Copa América earlier this summer. Hard as that was, being part of this team — the first group of U.S. men to even make the Olympics since 2008 — has Zimmerman excited about what the U.S. fanbase might be thinking.

“This is the first step of what we came here to do,” Zimmerman said on Tuesday. “But hopefully the fans are going to get behind us and keep supporting back home and hopefully we can give them something to be proud of.”

In winning two of its three group stage games, the U.S. has shown an ability to be dynamic and versatile on the ball, playing directly at times but also keeping possession and slowing down when the game demands it. Coach Marko Mitrović, who was an assistant with the Chicago Fire and Reading, in the English Championship, before joining U.S. Soccer as a youth national team coach in 2022, deserves credit for pushing the right buttons and allowing this group of young players to be creative.

France coach Thierry Henry praised Mitrović — and the American players — for their defensive shape and the way they contained the French for the first hour of the opening match, and Mitrović then opened up the Americans tactically for the second match, which they won 4-1 over New Zealand.

On Tuesday, after evaluating Guinea’s defensive tendencies, Mitrović inserted Yow and played him in a front line with Paxten Aaronson and Paredes — an alignment that the coach said he anticipated would give the U.S. plenty of chances to slip in behind.

The move paid off perfectly, as the U.S. peppered the Guinean goal from the opening whistle, zipping passes in every direction and hammering high-quality shots that kept it in control. It seemed like everyone was involved, and Paredes scored the first of his two goals when — as expected — he was able to get behind the Guineans to sprint on to a perfectly weighted through ball from Aaronson before finishing underneath the goalkeeper.

“I mean, sometimes those ideas are good, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” Mitrović said with a smile afterward. “But today it worked, and it was very good.”

Paredes has in many ways been the breakout star for the U.S. so far. Coming up through D.C. United’s system, the winger left for VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga two years ago and has made 52 appearances for the German side since. With three USMNT caps, he was in the running to make the Copa América roster but was left out — a decision that definitely stung.

Now, though, he’s bullish on what the Olympic team might be able to accomplish and how this group might be able to help change, even a little, the perception of American soccer players, both outside — and inside — the United States.

“We’re so happy to play together, we’re so happy to have the ball, and in these past couple of games, it’s really showed,” Paredes said. “Maybe some people don’t see it, some people have other things to say, but after being in this type of tournament and other camps, I see it all — and it’s just a matter of moments [until] it’s really going to take off.”