Who is going to be there?
Teamwise, only 16 teams will be attending, in groups:
Group A: France, United States, Guinea, New Zealand
Group B: Argentina, Morocco, Ukraine, Iraq
Group C: Uzbekistan, Spain, Egypt, Dominican Republic
Group D: Japan, Paraguay, Mali, Israel
Playerwise, the Olympics is a U23 tournament for the men. Each team may include 3 players over 23 only. Why? There are various theories for this but I like to think it’s to showcase young talent at an event that was at one time amateur athletes only.
Interesting player stories
Lionel Messi – While it’s a young man’s tournament, you would still expect Lionel to headline. Widely recognized as the Greatest of all Time, Messi’s first international trophy with the Agentinian Men’s team came in 2008 when they won the Olympic gold. Messi impressed as a young player but it was Aguero and Di Maria who scored the big goals for the South American side. But as the torch passed, Messi struggled to find success for his national side, Argentina until finally striking gold at the 2021 Copa America. This was followed by the homerun World Cup victory over France and then a second Copa victory this year. Winning gold here would have bookended Messi’s international career and allowed him to go out on top.
However, the injury he sustained in the final match of the Copa will keep him off the Olympic squad this time. It is possible we see him one last time at the next World Cup but only if he’s fit and feels like it.
Pau Cubarsi – A center at famed FC Barcelona just recently assigned fulltime to the big club, Cubarsi at 17 will be the youngest competitor ever to contest for an Olympic medal. The talented youngster was left off the experienced high performance winner of the Euros Spanish national team for the Euros so certainly wants to make an impression at this his first ever national tournament for Spain.
Claudio Echeverri – The second youngest player to play at these olympics will be 18 year old lethal Argentine striker Echeverri who has already signed for Man City and will arrive in January 2025. Like Cubarsi, he was also left off the National team’s regional competition, in this case the COPA America so expect him to be front and center of the Argentine attack here, especially with no Messi.
Julian Alvarez – Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez is one of four 2022 World Cup winners who will be part of Argentina’s squad at the Olympic Games in Paris.Alvarez, 24, takes up one of the clubs over 23 spots along with Rulli, 32 and Otamendi, 36.
Alexandre Lacazette – Lyon Captain of France, 33 will take up one of Frances 3 overaged spots. Veteran striker Lacazette is coming off a fine two-season spell with Lyon, scoring 53 goals in 74 games in all competitions. Lacazette, 33, is the captain of France and will be given the freedom to roam around up top and add his finishing touches to a stacked French side.
Mbappe – No Mbappe this time around. His new team, Real Madrid, said, no,no,no.
Lamine Yamal – No Lamine. Too many games this year already for this barely turned 17 year old.
Nico Williams – No Nico. Too much going on with his transfer life to take a chance on getting injured.
Group Predictions
From Group A expect France and the United States to come out.
From group B expect Argentina and Morocco to come out.
From group C expect Spain and Egypt to come out.
From Group D expect Paraguay and Japan to come out although Israel could potentially unseat Japan.
Predictions
Spain is coming off a Euro win but only a very few of those players will be on this team. Still they are talented and deep. Argentina won the last 3 major tournaments they’ve entered, but again, not many of those players will be playing here. Similarly with France, perennial threat, with no Mbappe, but still with a deep team of talented youngsters. Expect these to be the teams to go deep in the tournament and end up in the finals.
Who will win? All 3 of these teams are deep and feature future superstars. It’s going to be a fun tournament to watch. But France is the host and they may end up with the upper hand purely by being the home side.
Let’s see what happens! Good viewing everyone!