American men’s soccer is back to the World Cupand now it’s back in the Olympics.
The U.S. men secured their ticket to the 2024 Olympics in Paris on Friday with a 3-0 win over Honduras in the semi-finals of the CONCACAF U20 Championship. This is the first time the team has qualified for an Olympics since 2008, when they failed to qualify for the group stage in Beijing.
The American men soon took the lead with a goal from Philadelphia Union quarterback Paxten Aaronson in the third minute. They soon scored two more goals from Alejandro Alvarado and Quinn Sullivan in the first half and never looked back.
The US will play the Dominican Republic in the U20 final on Sunday at San Pedro Sula in Honduras.
Qualifying for the Olympics isn’t as big of a deal as the World Cup, but it certainly helps reinforce the idea that the U.S. men are finally on track.
In previous qualifiers for the 16-team Olympic playground, the United States lost its place in sports style, including a goal missed by a goalkeeper with about a minute left in 2012 and David Ochoa’s infamous howl last year.
There has been no such drama this year, and now the team is heading to Paris. Olympic men’s soccer is a different sport from most international competitions, as the roster is limited to players under the age of 23 with each country having a maximum of three over-age players.