Already an interesting tournament men's and women's

NBCSN still going to commercials in the middle of matches is a real pain in the ass

NBC coverage is going to be an epic fail

Only men's game I've watched thus far was Australia v Argentina. Live coverage and didn't have commercial breaks so not sure if breaks are just in replays or certain matches but wasn't an issue here.

Super pleased with the Aus upset of Argentina although the official was waaaaay too involved in this one. Super petty second yellow to Argentina and overall I think there were 12 cards. Unbelievable. If this ref had tried to officiate a concacaf match it would have ended up 7v7 at best!

France got rocked by Mexico 4-1. All goals scored from Liga MX players

So why is the mens side using only U24 players?

BQ_90 said:

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So why is the mens side using only U24 players?

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I think they can have 3 vets. I guess the thought is for it to stay as amateur as possible. It's weird.

MookieBlaylock said:

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DeangeloVickers said:

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BQ_90 said:

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So why is the mens side using only U24 players?

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I think they can have 3 vets. I guess the thought is for it to stay as amateur as possible. It's weird.

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Its U23 and all are professional players

They are trying to seperate the product from the World Cup

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Yes, FIFA specifically does not require clubs to release players for the Olympics so they can protect the world cup's value as a product

Kampfers said:

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MookieBlaylock said:

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DeangeloVickers said:

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BQ_90 said:

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So why is the mens side using only U24 players?

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I think they can have 3 vets. I guess the thought is for it to stay as amateur as possible. It's weird.

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Its U23 and all are professional players

They are trying to seperate the product from the World Cup

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Yes, FIFA specifically does not require clubs to release players for the Olympics so they can protect the world cup's value as a product

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Correct. So even though the bulk of our A team is U24, they wouldn't have been released from clubs like Chelsea, Juventus, Leipzig, Wolfsburg, Dortmund, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, ManC, Werder Breman, Salzburg.... if we had qualified.

I think they moved from U-23 to U-24 to keep players who would have aged out due to COVID delays a chance to remain on the teams.

jeffk said:

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I think they moved from U-23 to U-24 to keep players who would have aged out due to COVID delays a chance to remain on the teams.

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Correct. If you age qualified in 2020 they allowed you to play without the age exemptions.

Kevin the 3-legged dog said:

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Kampfers said:

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MookieBlaylock said:

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DeangeloVickers said:

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BQ_90 said:

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So why is the mens side using only U24 players?

---

I think they can have 3 vets. I guess the thought is for it to stay as amateur as possible. It's weird.

---

Its U23 and all are professional players

They are trying to seperate the product from the World Cup

---

Yes, FIFA specifically does not require clubs to release players for the Olympics so they can protect the world cup's value as a product

---

Correct. So even though the bulk of our A team is U24, they wouldn't have been released from clubs like Chelsea, Juventus, Leipzig, Wolfsburg, Dortmund, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, ManC, Werder Breman, Salzburg.... if we had qualified.

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La Liga has an agreement to release players and you do see some guys get released by some of the bigger clubs in England, Germany, France, and Italy. So, wouldn't necessarily see everyone blocked from playing.

Its kind of a lousy thing to block players from the Olympics and I wish they all agreed to release their players. As an Arsenal fan, I think it is hsitty that they released several players but refused to release others.

Kevin the 3-legged dog said:

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Kampfers said:

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MookieBlaylock said:

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DeangeloVickers said:

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BQ_90 said:

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So why is the mens side using only U24 players?

---

I think they can have 3 vets. I guess the thought is for it to stay as amateur as possible. It's weird.

---

Its U23 and all are professional players

They are trying to seperate the product from the World Cup

---

Yes, FIFA specifically does not require clubs to release players for the Olympics so they can protect the world cup's value as a product

---

Correct. So even though the bulk of our A team is U24, they wouldn't have been released from clubs like Chelsea, Juventus, Leipzig, Wolfsburg, Dortmund, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, ManC, Werder Breman, Salzburg.... if we had qualified.

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There was a lot of discussion, before we didnt qualify, that we would made arrangements with the club for them to be released for the olympics with a promise to not call them up for the other events.
I think they would have gotten more from doing the Olympics against international talent, then just playing a couple games against Concacaf opponents. Moot point anyways.

Just sucks with the rise of nations league (thanks fifa) we will have a lot harder time getting friendlies in against European teams.

I think we should do a combined concacaf/conmebol nations league. Not sure if conmebol would think it would be in their best interest though.

ChipFTAC01 said:

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I think we should do a combined concacaf/conmebol nations league. Not sure if conmebol would think it would be in their best interest though.

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That or combine the Gold Cup and Copa America.

PatAg said:

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ChipFTAC01 said:

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I think we should do a combined concacaf/conmebol nations league. Not sure if conmebol would think it would be in their best interest though.

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That or combine the Gold Cup and Copa America.

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I kind of like a rotation like this:

Sumner 1 - Gold Cup and Copa America
Sumner 2 - nothing (even year - Euros, Olympics)
Summer 3 - combined super Copa America - 16 teams maybe 9.5/6.5 south america/concacaf. Maybe 9/7.
Sumner 4 - world cup.