Mihailovic, Robinson, Zimmerman on US Olympic men’s soccer team

Colorado Rapids midfielder Djordje Mihailovic, FC Cincinnati defender Miles Robinson and Nashville defender Walker Zimmerman made the 18-player roster for the United States men’s Olympic team announced on Monday by manager Marko Mitrovic.

The men’s Olympic football tournament is restricted to players under the age of 23, but allows three “overage” players. Mihailovic, Robinson and Zimmerman will fill each of these spots. The remainder of the roster consists of players born on or after January 1, 2001.

The U.S. men have qualified for the Olympics for the first time since 2008 at this summer’s tournament in Paris.

The roster is also bolstered by midfielders Gianluca Busio and Tanner Tessman, both of whom helped lead Venezia to a successful effort to gain promotion to Italy’s Serie A last season.

Since the Olympics does not qualify as an official FIFA competition, club teams are not required to release players for the tournament.

This partially explains why most of the USMNT players, who just participated in the Copa América, are not on the roster. Robinson is the only exception.

Those limitations presented a challenge for Mitrovic in terms of roster construction. But of the players who were named, 15 of the 18 have made appearances for the full U.S. men’s national team, with 2022 World Cup squad veteran Zimmerman leading the way with 42 appearances.

Ten players are currently contracted with MLS clubs, with the remainder playing in Europe.

The last US team to participate in 2008 was led by former USMNT legends Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore. They narrowly missed qualifying for the medal round.

This time, the U.S. men qualified by virtue of winning the 2022 Concacaf Under-20 Championship. From that team, only Philadelphia Union’s Jack McGlynn and FC Utrecht’s Paxten Aaronson made the final Olympic team.

All of the US’s group stage games in the 16-team tournament will be played in Marseille, with the opening match on July 24 – two days before the opening ceremony – against host nation France.

This will be followed by matches against New Zealand on July 27, followed by the group stage final against Guinea three days later.

If the US qualifies for the medal round, it will play the quarterfinals in Paris or Bordeaux.

The semi-finals will be held in Marseille and Dessin-Charpieu, just outside Lyon. The final will be held in Paris on August 9 and the bronze medal match will be held a day earlier in Nantes.

The US will prepare for the games in Bordeaux, home of Ligue 2 team Bordeaux, from July 9-20 before traveling to Marseille for their opening match.

U.S. Olympic men’s soccer team roster by position (club; hometown)

Goalkeeper (2): Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew; St. Charles, Missouri), Gaga Slonina (Chelsea/England; Edison, Ill.)

Defenders (6): Maximilian Dietz (Greuther Fürth/GER; Frankfurt, Germany), Nathan Harrill (Philadelphia Union; Oldsmar, Florida), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; Arlington, Massachusetts), John Tolkin (New York Red Bulls; Chatham, New Jersey), Caleb Willie (Atlanta United FC; Atlanta), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC; Lawrenceville, Georgia)

Midfielder (5): Gianluca Busio (Venezia/ITA; Greensboro, North Carolina), Benjamin Cremaschi (Inter Miami CF; Key Biscayne, Florida), Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union; New York), Djordje Mihailovic (Colorado Rapids; Jacksonville, Florida), Tanner Tessman (Venezia /ita; Birmingham, Alabama)

Forward (5): Paxten Aronson (FC Utrecht/NED; Medford, New Jersey), Taylor Booth (FC Utrecht/NED; Eden, Utah), Duncan McGuire (Orlando City SC; Omaha, Nebraska), Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg/GER; South Riding, Virginia) ) ), Griffin Yo (KVC Westerlo/BEL; Clifton, Virginia)

Alternative (4): Josh Atencio (midfielder, Seattle Sounders FC; Bellevue, Washington), Jacob Davis (defender, Sporting Kansas City; Rochester, Michigan), Johan Gomez (forward, Eintracht Braunschweig/GER; Keller, Texas), John Pulskamp (goalkeeper, Sporting Kansas ) City; Bakersfield, California)