The Summer Olympics start this week Paris as some of the sport’s biggest stars will take center stage. But when it comes to men’s football, Christian PulisicGio Reyna, Weston McKennie and other key members of the USMNT are notably absent from Marko Mitrovic’s roster, despite this being the first time the United States has played in the Olympics since 2008.
There are a few main reasons for this, so let’s take a look at why the stars are missing:
Schedule restrictions
For a standard tournament, coaches are allowed to name a squad of at least 23 players, but that is not the case for the Olympic Games. Mitrovic is only allowed to include 18 players in his roster, along with four replacements who can only be used in case of injuries. There is also an age limit for U-23 players, so the majority of his roster must have been born on or after January 1, 2001, with three exceptions to that rule. The exceptions for those over 23 years old apply to this tournament Walker Zimmerman, Miles Robinsonand Djordje Mihailovic. These restrictions are particularly absent in the women’s tournament.
FIFA windows
During the year there are designated FIFA international windows in which major tournaments, World Cup qualifying and most friendlies take place. These periods are known in advance and teams are required to release players to their national teams during these periods. Managers can request that players be left at home or used sparingly due to injuries or workload, but if a country calls during one of these periods, a club must release the player.
The Olympic Games do not take place during these periods, so it is at the discretion of the club whether a player should be released. With the busy pre-season training starting, it is a risky time to release players before the season, even if it is to represent their country.
Workload
This summer, two major tournaments have already taken place in the form of the European Championship and the Copa America. Players who competed in that tournament, such as Ricardo Pepi and Malik Tillman, are also eligible to represent the United States in the Olympics, but it’s a risky time to have players do both. Dani Olmo and Neymar are cautionary tales of why players shouldn’t do both. The duo have represented Spain and Brazil respectively, appearing in back-to-back tournaments in recent years before subsequently missing almost the entire season for their clubs due to injuries.
The demands of club football have increased significantly over the years and the workload must be kept under control. Summer has already become less of a time for rest among athletes, so time has to be made available somewhere.
