Some thoughts of Olympic Soccer
Olympic Soccer
U.S. coach Bruce Arena believes U.S. Soccer should develop a regular national B team. He said the international competition in the Olympics did wonders for his team. ”The one thing top players in this country lack is big games,” he said. Arena counted four players (but he wouldn’t name them) who should get a serious look from national team coach Steve Sampson and possibly be called up. 3
FIFA mandates that clubs release players for all designated international dates. However, the Olympics don’t take place during a designated break time. Since it’s an under-23 tournament that mostly takes place in the pre-season it’s not usually an issue. 2
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The footballing world has always been ambivalent about the Olympic tournament. On one hand it’s recognized that the Olympics are the world’s biggest stage and it’s important that the world’s biggest game be a part of it. However, FIFA does not want to take away from the luster of the World Cup in any way (and that the women’s Olympic tournament is at least as prestigious as the Women’s World Cup, if not more so, would seem to illustrate that FIFA’s concerns are valid). 6
Basically, the number of olympic sports is just getting silly. And, there are a whole load of them where there is a world cup (or equivalent tournament) which is more prestigious than winning the olympic title (football is a case in point). 1
There’s a whole load of sports you never see on TV except in the olympics like rowing, field hockey and judo which could stay in; you’d never hear about them if it wasn’t for their inclusion in olympic TV broadcasts. But things like tennis should go, especially when most of the best players in the world aren’t even taking part. 5
It’s no secret that the Olympics need soccer — the men’s tournament traditionally draws the biggest crowds for the host country simply because there are more soccer games in big stadiums. It’s also no secret that FIFA will never allow wearing an IOC gold medal to mean anything like lifting the World Cup over a captain’s head every four years. 7
Granted, men’s Olympic soccer is not the World Cup. Each team is allowed only three players over the age of 23.) And yes, the competition at these Olympics may be a shade below the one four years ago, when Argentina, Brazil and Nigeria sent virtually the same teams that would represent them in World Cup ‘98. 4
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