arguably the most talented U.S. U-23 side in years -- many soccer observers feel the U.S. has an excellent chance of playing in Beijing come August.
The USA will be attempting to qualify for its first Olympics since 2000, when it finished a surprising fourth in Sydney. The Americans failed to reach Athens four years later, losing to Mexico 4-0 in Guadalajara in the CONCACAF semifinals in February 2004.
"We know from the beginning the pressure is going to be there, especially when we play at home in front of our fans," U.S. coach Peter Nowak said. "You can put every system on paper, you can put out the best possible lineup but the games are going to verify everything. ... Pressure is pressure but we have to play soccer and accept pressure as part of the whole tournament."
The U.S. meets Cuba in a Group A encounter at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, followed by Panama at 8 p.m. Thursday and Honduras at 8 p.m. Saturday.
"We have material from our opponents and we are preparing ourselves for that," Nowak said. "Of course, we want to make sure that we're playing soccer our way and also adjust to the opponent in a way that will be an advantage for us. Of course we are aware of their rosters, players, strengths, weakness, so we are well prepared for that. As I said, we can throw everything on the board but the important factor is the execution and that's what we've been working on the last couple of days."
Altidore, who scored his first national team goal in the USA's 2-2 draw with Mexico Feb. 6, warned about looking too far ahead.
"It's important not to look past the first game because anything is possible," he said. "Anybody can beat anybody in this tournament, and we need to make sure that we are sharp for our first game."
The top two teams from each group advance (Mexico, Canada, Haiti and Guatemala are in Group B at The Home Depot Center). The group winners take on the second-place sides from the other groups in the semifinals in Nashville, Tenn. on March 20, with the championship match March 23. The two semifinal winners will book a place in Beijing.
"Everything is going to be done on the field," Nowak said. "We do not predict anything right now. We do not have a crystal ball to tell us how it's going to be. We just want to focus on the things we can control and make sure that when we hit the field on Tuesday night, we're ready to go and ready for those three games in the group and maybe something extra after that."
For the U.S. and Mexico to both qualify they cannot meet in the semifinals. The best way to avoid such a fate would be for both teams to finish first or second in their respective groups.
Several U.S. players played together at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada last summer, when the Stars and Stripes were eliminated by Austria in the quarterfinals. Adu and Altidore played well together.
"The most important thing is how they feel out playing together with the whole team," Nowak said. "You have to keep in mind how they fit together in the whole group. We want to accommodate all of our strengths, and Jozy and Freddy are very important parts of our team, but they're also part of a larger thing which is the whole team. They have great experience together and we hope that we will benefit from that."
In fact, Nowak is bringing is different U.S. team to the qualifying tournanent. In the past, the U-23 team had college players. This is the first Olympic qualifying tourney that is stocked entirely with professional players.
The majority of the team comes from Major League Soccer, as the U.S. pro league is contributing an unprecedented 13 players. Real Salt Lake sending the most representatives with three -- Robbie Findley, Chris Seitz and Nathan Sturgis. Two-time defending MLS Cup champion Houston Dynamo (Patrick Ianni and Stuart Holden), New York Red Bulls (Altidore and Hunter Freeman) and Toronto FC (Maurice Edu and Marvell Wynne) each send a pair, while the Chicago Fire (Chad Barrett), Columbus Crew (Eddie Gaven), Chivas USA (Sacha Kljestan) and FC Dallas (Dax McCarty) are also contributing players to the qualifying campaign.
Six players perform in Europe, including defender Jonathan Spector (West Ham United, England) and Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF, Sweden). They are joined by Adu (Benfica, Portugal), Michael Orozco (Real San Luis, Mexico), Kamani Hill (Vfl Wolfsburg, Germany) and Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96, Germany). Goalkeeper Dominic Cervi, a first-round selection of the Chicago Fire in the 2008 SuperDraft, is currently out-of-contract.
"I don't think it makes it any easier," Nowak said of having a full professional team. "When players play abroad they have other obligations to their clubs and qualifying is not in the FIFA dates which makes everything more difficult. But we've tried our best to get our best players in these camps.
"Our [lack of] college players here reflect the significant progress of our soccer nation in the past few years. Perhaps in the next Olympic Games at London in 2012 we will have 24 players in Europe. [Having lots of professionals] makes things more difficult, but it's very positive, too."
If the U.S. qualifies, Nowak will have three big decisions to make before the Summer Games kick off in August -- which three overage players to take to Beijing. For the 2000 Summer Games, the late Clive Charles, then the U.S. coach, took goalkeeper Brad Friedel, defender Jeff Agoos and defender Frankie Hejduk.
"I don't want to get a headache with who and how and what, because there are so many factors that come into play at that time (during the Olympics)," he said. "The Olympic Games are not in the FIFA calendar and there are World Cup qualifiers coming up. The European season will be starting, transfer windows are open; there are so many factors right now. As soon as qualification is over, if we do qualify for the Olympic Games, then we will start the process and look at the situation. With the senior team and Olympic team playing at the same time we [both teams] will find the right way to accommodate all of our needs. But right now it's too early too discuss."
Nowak just wants to get to Beijing first.
Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News and is editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
