The US has returned to the Men’s Soccer World Cup and is now back at the Olympics.
The United States men secured their ticket to the 2024 Olympics in Paris on Friday with a 3-0 victory over Honduras in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship. For the first time since 2008, the team qualified for the Olympics, when they could not get out of the group stage in Beijing.
Philadelphia Union midfielder Paxton Aronson scored in the third minute to level the American men. He soon scored two more goals in the first half from Alejandro Alvarado and Quinn Sullivan and never looked back.
San Pedro in Honduras will play the U.S. Dominican Republic in the Under-20 final on Sunday in Sula.
Qualifying for the Olympics isn’t as big a thing as the World Cup, but it certainly helps to reinforce the idea that U.S. men are finally moving in the right direction.
In previous qualifying rounds for the 16-team Olympic region, the U.S. has conceded defeat, including a goal that slipped out of the goalkeeper’s hand with about a minute left in 2012 and David Ochoa’s infamous holler last year.
There was no such drama this year and now the team has left for Paris. Olympic men’s soccer is a different animal than most international competitions, as rosters are limited to players under the age of 23, with each country receiving a maximum of three players.
US players celebrate after winning the CONCACAF Under-20 World Cup semi-final football match against Honduras at the General Francisco Morazनn Stadium in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on July 1, 2022. (Photo Orlando Sierra / AFP) (Photo of Orlando Sierra / AFP) Getty Images via AFP)
