This week, the Summer Olympics get underway in Paris as some of the biggest stars in sports will take center stage. But when it comes to men’s soccer, Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie and other key members of the USMNT are notably absent from Marko Mitrovic’s squad despite this being the first time that the United States have played in the Olympics since 2008.
There are a few key reasons for this so let’s dive through why the stars are missing:
Roster restrictions
For a standard tournament, coaches are allowed to name a roster of at least 23 players but that isn’t the case for the Olympics. Mitrovic is only allowed 18 players to his roster along with four replacements who can only be used in the case of injury. There is also an age limit of U-23 players so the majority of his roster has to have been born on or after January 1, 2001, outside of three exceptions to that rule. For this tournament, the over-23 exceptions are Walker Zimmerman, Miles Robinson, and Djordje Mihailovic. These restrictions are notably absent from the women’s tournament.
FIFA windows
During the year, there are designated FIFA international windows during which major tournaments, World Cup qualifying, and most friendlies take place. These windows are known ahead of time and teams are required to release players to their national teams during them. Managers may make requests that players are left home or used sparingly due to injuries or workloads but if a country calls during one of these windows, a club has to release the player.
The Olympics do not take place during these windows so it is up to the club’s discretion if a player should be released. As busy preseason training is beginning to get underway, it’s a risky time to release players ahead of the season even if it is to represent their countries.
Workload
This summer, two major tournaments have already taken place in the form of the European Championship and Copa America. Players who took part in that tournament like Ricardo Pepi and Malik Tillman are eligible to represent the United States at the Olympics as well but it’s a risky time to allow players to do both. Dani Olmo and Neymar are cautionary tales as to why players shouldn’t do both. Representing Spain and Brazil respectively, the duo took part in back-to-back tournaments in recent years before then missing almost the entire season for their clubs due to injuries.
The demands of club soccer have grown significantly over the years and workloads have to be managed. The summer has already become less of a time for rest among athletes so time has to be taken off somewhere.
KVSP