The Olympic Men’s and Women’s Tournament Draws were today. US fans should be feeling pretty good.
On the men’s side, the US plays Holland, Nigeria and Japan. The Dutch will likely be fairly strong, with the most well-known player in the squad being Real Madrid’s Roylston Drenthe. They will also likely feature Jonathan de Guzman, sort of the Guiseppe Rossi of Canadian soccer. Nigeria will likely feature Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel. Japan is harder to read, with few if any players likely to come from outside the J-League. Of course, each team can call up three overage players, who will likely play a huge role on each of the squads. For now, I’d say the group is definitely “advancable,” if not winnable.
The women get a breeze of a draw with Norway, Japan and New Zealand. It’s impossible to imagine them not getting through that group. Then, like with most womens tournaments, it’ll likely come down to the Big 4 of USA, China, Germany and Brazil to decide the medals.
Here are the draws in full: Continue reading
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