The U.S. men’s soccer team fell well short in its bid to play for an Olympic medal for the first time in program history with a 4–0 loss to Morocco in the tournament quarterfinals on Friday.
Soufiane Rahimi converted a penalty kick with a right-footed shot to the bottom left corner in the 29th minute and Ilias Akhomach and Achraf Hakimi scored seven minutes apart in the second half. El Mehdi Maouhoub converted another penalty kick in the 91st minute for the lopsided victory.
The Americans were playing in their Olympic Men’s Soccer Tournament for the first time in 16 years. It was also just the third time in its 100-year history at the Games the United States advanced to the quarterfinals.
The United States advanced from the group stage for the first time since Sydney 2000 and the second time since pool play was introduced in Rome in 1960. After losing to France 3–0 in the Group A opener, the Americans beat New Zealand 4–1 on Saturday and firmly dominated Guinea 3–0 for a spot in the quarterfinals. The seven goals scored by the United States in the group stage rank second-most all-time across its 14 appearances at the Olympic Men’s Soccer Tournament behind Sydney in 2000—eight goals in five games.
However, the United States played on its heels for much of the game against Morocco, which was more creative with the attack. The Americans also had trouble breaking down the Moroccan defense to find a clear shot on goal.
With the early lead, Morocco, which was the Group B winner, could have more players behind the ball defensively and launch their own counterattacks. Several errant passes also hampered the Americans in the midfield.
The Moroccan penalty was set up when U.S. defender Nathan Harriel made contact with Rahimi as they went for the ball just inside the penalty area. The VAR looked at the incident, upheld the decision, and Rahimi converted the ending shot on goal.
The United States did not manage a shot on goal in the first half and maintained just 35.8 percent of the possession, compared to 64.2 percent for Morocco. The Americans sorely missed Gianluca Busio, who was out with a leg injury. He is one of the most talented midfielders in the U.S. youth player pool. Busio was replaced by alternate Josh Atencio.
The game was played in front of a partisan Morocco crowd.
The United States played better in the second half, but the Americans still had trouble finding any gaps in the Moroccan defense. Miles Robinson came close to tying the game, but his shot went wide of the post from just inside the penalty area and the Moroccans made them pay for that miss.
Morocco boosted the lead when Akhomach took a cross from Abde Ezzalzouli and slotted the ball into the goal. Achraf Hakimi put the game away with a left-footed goal from the corner of the penalty area for a 3–0 lead in the 70th minute after Bilal El Khannouss ran the counter-attack. Maouhoub closed out the scoring with Morocco’s second penalty after Harriel was called for a handball.
The United States and Morocco had met only one previous time at the Olympics, resulting in a 0–0 draw in the group stage at Munich in 1972.
Olympic soccer is limited to players under 23, and each team is allowed three overage players. U.S. coach Marko Mitrović selected Robinson (age 27), Walker Zimmerman (31), and Djordje Mihailovic (25) as those three overage players.
