(Reuters) – The U.S. under-23 men’s soccer team is aiming to make up for past disappointments, coach Jason Kreis said yesterday as his squad assembled in Mexico for training camp ahead of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
With US women already winning their place at this year’s rescheduled Tokyo Games, the men will look to do the same and qualify for the first time since the 2008 Beijing Olympics if they can reach the final of the March 18-30 competition.
“I see it as an opportunity, I presented it to the guys that we have a chance to sort of not rewrite history but take a big step forward,” said Kreis, during a media call from Guadalajara.
“I don’t think any of us should feel any real responsibility for what happened four years, eight years ago, none of us were involved.
“What is right for me is exactly the wrong kind of right.”
The United States opens against Costa Rica on March 18, then faces the Dominican Republic on March 21 before wrapping a Group A play against Mexico’s arch rivals on March 24.
Group B includes Canada, Honduras, Haiti and El Salvador.
The top two in each group advance to the semi-finals with the winners of both competitions securing tickets to Tokyo.
LOOK DIFFERENT
Originally scheduled for last year, the qualifying tournament was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and as a result the US squad will have a very different look to the one it might have chosen.
Most of the 31 players called this time were taken from Major League Soccer rosters with only five located outside the US
Eight players from the 20-man squad named last year are not in Guadalajara.
Another notable absence is 18-year-old Los Angeles Galaxy stand-up midfielder Efrain Alvarez, who is eligible to play for Mexico and the US and according to Kreis is not yet ready to commit to a single national team.
Jonathan Klinsmann of Galaxy, son of former German and World Cup winner Juergen, is one of four goalkeepers in the squad looking to win Olympic spots.
“The team feels different in a lot of ways,” said Kreis, who will be trimming his squad to 20 players by March 15. “There are a host of unavailable players this year that were available last year.
“In the end, it looks a little different from maybe the top end perspective. At the end of the day I still feel really good about the level of talent we have. “