The Olympic Games qualifying cycle is back, and that means one thing: Under-23 national team football! It’s kind of an odd age bracket, as it’s not quite a typical youth tournament, but most senior squad players aren’t available either because they’re too old. That makes for some strangely-constructed teams at times, but that’s half the fun. The United States and Canada will have to figure out how to make the best of it, because they’re going head to head in group stage action as CONCACAF starts figuring out who’s going to the Olympics in Brazil in 2016.
USA vs. Canada 2015 live stream: How to watch the USMNT online
The United States are set to start their Olympics qualifying run, and their first opponent is a very close neighbor -- Canada.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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Last time out, the United States failed to even make it out of their qualifying group, drawing with El Salvador after losing to Canada to come up one point shy of qualifying for the semi-final. The USMNT will be looking for revenge for that 2-0 disappointment tonight, and especially with Canada not calling in their nation’s best striker in 20-year-old Cyle Larin, their chances are looking pretty good right now.
Any potential “America’s Hat” jokes aside -- and you can trust that there are many to be made -- this is a very important match. A strong performance in this tournament and getting to play in the Olympics against some of the best youth teams in the world would be huge for the USMNT since they’ve been struggling to help get some of their promising younger talents that that “next” step in their development, going from talented young star-in-the-making to having an impact on a senior squad, be it for the national team or even their club. Getting that big-game exposure would be a big help to that -- and the US needs to get off to a strong start against Canada to get there.
Key player -- Jordan Morris (United States)
Despite being 20 and not having even signed a professional contract yet while he finishes his time at Stanford, Morris has already earned playing time and respect with the senior national team. Those six caps and one goal may not look like much on paper, but that experience will be invaluable for the USMNT U-23’s in this tournament, and they’ll be looking to Morris to be a leader of this team.
Key factor -- Focus and teamwork
There’s a lot of this squad that formed the core of the US team that fell short of expectations in the U-20 World Cup this summer, a team that failed to gel particularly well and struggled to play as a cohesive unit. Want to know what the biggest issue was with the US U-23’s that failed to qualify for the last Olympic Games was? Yep, you guessed it: the same thing. It’s never easy to come together as a team in the short amount of preparation time that national sides get for these tournaments, but this USMNT group needs to make that their focus or risk the same failures as those two ill-fated US teams of the past.
Match Date/Time: Thursday, 9 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. local
Venue: Sporting Park, Kansas City, Kansas
TV: NBC Universo (U.S. - Spanish)
Online: YouTube (U.S. & Canada - English), NBC Deportes En Vivo Extra (U.S. - Spanish)
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