United States men's national under-23 soccer team
The United States U-23 men's national soccer team, also known as the United States men's Olympic soccer team, is a youth soccer team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is qualification into and competition at the quadriennial Olympic Football Tournament, the next of which is to be held during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom (Great Britain). The team's most recent major tournament was the tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics, in which the United States team was eliminated in the first round group stage.
The roster can be augmented with three "overage" players, ostensibly possessing veteran experience, during Olympic competition, in accordance with FIFA regulations.
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[edit] History
Men's Olympic soccer as an under-23 competition officially began during the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. A win over Kuwait was not enough for qualification past the group stage, and, as expected, a loss to Italy and a draw with Poland eliminated the United States in the first round. Several US players on the roster, however, would go on to have a major influence with the United States men's national soccer team in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, which the United States would host.
The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia would be the first time that teams could add overage players to their rosters. With the advantage as the host nation, and with Major League Soccer in the middle of its inaugural season, the USSF tapped then-D.C. United head coach Bruce Arena to manage the Olympic team. They would fall short again, however, as a loss to eventual-silver medalists Argentina, offset favorable results in a win against Tunisia and a draw with Portugal.
The 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia marked a significant turnaround in the fortunes of the team. This time, the United States, led by head coach Clive Charles, won their group on goal difference, based on draws with Czech Republic and eventual-gold medalists Cameroon, and a win over Kuwait. A tense quarterfinal match against Japan ended in a penalty shoot-out, which the United States won. Losses to Spain in the semifinals and Chile in the bronze medal match fell short of rising expectations, but a fourth-place finish in a sixteen-team tournament led to the national youth team's greatest result at the Olympics.
The team did not compete at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece; the United States, led by head coach Glenn Myernick, would lose to Mexico in the semifinals of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament.
In late 2006, former Chivas USA head coach Bob Bradley was given the reins to both the senior national team and under-23 national team. His tenure would be brief, and his elevation to full-time head coach of the senior team would result in him handing control of the under-23 team to his assistant head coach, Piotr Nowak. Under Nowak, the United States qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics after a 3-0 win over Canada in the 2008 CONCACAF Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament, thanks to goals by Freddy Adu and Sacha Kljestan. They would end their tournament as runners-up to Honduras but with an Olympic berth in hand.
[edit] Schedule
According to an article at tropigol.com, CONCACAF Olympic qualifying will be held at yet-to-be announced site in the United States in March. Usually, the top assistant coach of the U.S. National Team handles the Under-23 team during qualifying and the Olympics, later however, another article posted at tropigol.com stated that Martin Vasquez, who is currently the Assistant Coach for the United States mens national soccer team, would not take charge of the Under-23 team, Caleb Porter, who currently coaches for The University of Akron, was named head coach of the U-23, however, he did not travel with the team to Germany because of other duties he had with his current team.
Jürgen Klinsmann said in the article that, "This is a unique opportunity for the younger group to learn and to experience an internationally, high profile competition and we don’t have that many of them. So, we are very, very high on that topic. There will be a workshop after our game against Ecuador just about that topic. We hopefully can get the coaching staff being named as soon as possible and get our heads around that, that special group of kids. If you go through the player list that could possibly play in the Olympics in London, this is a very good team on paper. So we better start that process, the sooner the better." A rumor appeared, according to BigSoccer.com, that the possible friendlies could be against the France national football team or the likes of the Slovenia national football team during the November friendlies, instead, these friendlies were scheduled for the United States Senior Squad, no friendlies are currently set for this camp, another rumored appeared that there would be 4 friendlies during the training camps. Jürgen Klinsmann named his 22-man roster for the international fixtures in which are against France and Slovenia, about one-third of the roster included some of the U-23's, including Timothy Chandler, Jozy Altidore, Alfredo Morales, Bill Hamid, Brek Shea and Daniel Williams.
[edit] U-23/U-20 Scrimmages
| November 11, 2011 Time: 11:00am |
VFL Bochum  |
1 – 3 |  United States |
Duisburg, Germany Attendance: 200 Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dabrowski  20' |
Boyd 42' Taylor 81'Duka 83' |
| November 11, 2011 Time: 03:00pm |
United States |
0 – 0 |  Azerbaijan |
Duisburg, Germany Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 15, 2011 Time: 02:30pm |
Bayer Leverkusen U–23 |
1 – 1 | United States |
Duisburg, Germany Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boyd 78' |
| November 15, 2011 Time: 05:00pm |
Bayer Leverkusen U–19 |
3 – 0 | United States |
Duisburg, Germany Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
[edit] U-23 Scrimmages
| November 15, 2011 Time: 05:00pm |
United States |
4 – 0 | United States |
Carson, California Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 15, 2011 Time: 05:00pm |
United States |
1 – 1 | United States |
Carson, California Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 21, 2012 Time: 05:00pm |
Saprissa Reserves  |
0 – 0 | United States |
San José, Costa Rica Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 24, 2012 Time: 05:00pm |
Alajuelense |
0 – 1 | United States |
Alajuela, Costa Rica Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taylor 41' |
| February 22, 2012 Time: 09:00pm |
United States |
2 – 1 | FC Dallas |
Frisco, Texas Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 24, 2012 Time: 09:00pm |
United States |
3 – 0 | San Antonio Scorpions |
Frisco, Texas Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 29, 2012 Time: 09:00pm |
United States |
v |  Mexico |
Frisco, Texas Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
[edit] CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying
| March 22, 2012 Time: 08:00pm |
United States |
v |  Cuba |
Nashville, Tennessee Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 24, 2012 Time: 06:00pm |
United States |
v |  Canada |
Nashville, Tennessee Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 26, 2012 Time: 08:00pm |
United States |
v |  El Salvador |
Nashville, Tennessee Attendance: - Referee: - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
[edit] Players
[edit] Current squad
The following 22 players were named to the roster for the team's friendly against Mexico at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, Texas on February 29.
[edit] Other Players Called This Cycle
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[edit] Also eligible for 2012 Summer Olympics
Players born after January 1, 1989 are eligible to play in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In addition, teams may select three overage players for the final roster. (See: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/01/33/73/30/regulationsoft2012_update10.15.10_e.pdf)
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[edit] Coaches
- 1988–1992: Lothar Osiander
- 1994-1995: Timo Liekoski
- 1995–1996: Bruce Arena
- 1996–2003: Clive Charles
- 2003–2004: Glenn Myernick
- 2006–2007: Bob Bradley
- 2007–2009: Piotr Nowak
- 2011-: Caleb Porter
[edit] See also
- United States Soccer Federation
- United States men's national soccer team
- Football at the Summer Olympics
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- U-23 MNT official homepage at United States Soccer Federation
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