the United States knows it won't necessarily have a Dutch treat in China this August.
One reason is that the U.S. will take on the European champion Netherlands in one of its Group B matches. The other challenges? The USA's other opening-round foes are Japan and Nigeria, who have done well at the youth level in the past.
"It's a difficult group definitely, but that's what we expect in a tournament that includes the top 16 teams in the world," U.S. men's Olympic coach Peter Nowak said. "They are very quality teams and we have to be up to the challenge."
New York Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore, who helped the U.S. advance to the Beijing Summer Games at the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament last month, echoed Nowak's sentiments.
"It's a really tough group, maybe one of the hardest there is," he said. "We're really going to have to be at the top of our game in order to get past the first round."
The U.S. meets Japan in Tianjin Aug. 7 at 5 p.m. local (5 a.m. ET), before taking on the Dutch in Tianjin Aug. 10 at 7:45 p.m. local (7:45 a.m. ET) and Nigeria in Beijing Aug. 13 at 5 p.m. local (5 a.m. ET).
The Dutch are the top European under-21 side. They captured the UEFA crown in 2007, besting Serbia 4-1 in the final. Two players emerged as impact performers -- forward Maceo Rigters, who was the leading scorer (four goals) and left-sided defender-winger Royston Drenthe, the player of the tournament who toils for Real Madrid.
A couple of Dutch players perform for Heerenveen, for which former MetroStars midfielder and current Olympic team candidate Michael Bradley plays. Nowak said he will ask Bradley and Dutch-born Thomas Rongen, the U.S. U-20 national coach, for background and information.
"The Dutch are famous for developing good young players," Nowak said.
Japan earned a bronze medal in the 1968 tournament, when the competition was dominated by so-called amateur teams from the Soviet Bloc. The U.S. met Japan once in the Olympics -- in a titanic quarterfinal battle that was decided by penalty kicks in Australia in 2000.
The U.S. side played the host Japanese to a scoreless tie in February 2007.
"Japan was one of the best youth teams I've ever played," said goalkeeper Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake). "They were a very good squad and we were playing at their place, but I'd expect to see the same kind of team in the Olympics. It was a competitive match and we did well to get a tie there."
Nigeria, which currently calls itself the "Dream Team," captured the gold medal at the Athens Summer Games in 1996 and has forged an excellent track record at FIFA youth world championships.
"When you add the overage players, they're going to be a very difficult team," Nowak said.
A number of U.S. players in the Olympic team pool performed for the side that was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada last summer.
"I think we're going to have to bring the same mindset into this tournament as we did in Canada," Seitz said. "We knew we were going to have to take one game at a time and we didn't overlook anyone. You always want to start off group play on a good note and set a good tone for your team, so we're looking to do the same thing in this tournament."
Getting an opportunity to play in Beijing for the Nigeria encounter and soak in some of the Olympic atmosphere will be just fine for the players.
"It will be nice to play in the Olympic city and get a chance to be a part of the whole atmosphere of the games," team captain and midfielder Maurice Edu said. "It will be a chance to get the full effect of not only our Olympic dreams, but the rest of Team USA as well."
Nowak indicated he was under no pressure to select a team. He said he has plenty of time to figure out a roster from MLS and European-based players and which overage players - 23 or older -- to pick (each team is allowed three additions).
"The MLS season has just started and it's too early to make decisions on players at this point in the season," he said, noting that the European season will completed soon. "We will have a tournament in France and we'll try to accommodate everything. ... So, it's still a couple of months and everything is open."
Unlike the World Cup, soccer experts, observers and the media can't necessarily predict success on how the team has played over the years and run close to World Cup form and history because the Olympic tournament has a tremendous turnover of players every four years.
For example, incredible as it might sound, five-time World Cup champion Brazil has never taken home Olympic gold, earning the silver twice (1984, 1988) and the bronze once (1996).
Even the U.S. has stumped and surprised the pundits. The USA hadn't advanced out of the opening round since the 1924 Olympics, yet they became one of the top soccer stories at the 2000 Sydney Games by earning a spot in the medal round and finishing fourth.
At the present time, Nowak doesn't have any medal-round aspirations.
"When you go to these tournaments you want to take one goal at a time," he said. "The first one is advancing from the group, the second is winning the quarterfinal and then to go to the medal round. Once you have four games under your belt and you're in the medal stage, you don't need extra motivation."
The rest of the men's Olympic field:
Group A -- Cote D'Ivoire, defending champion Argentina, Australia, Serbia
Group C -- China, New Zealand, Brazil, Belgium
Group D -- South Korea, Cameroon, Honduras, Italy
The top two teams in each group will advance to the Aug. 15 quarterfinals with the semifinals set for Aug. 19. The gold-medal match is schedule for National Stadium -- also known as the Bird's Nest -- on Aug. 23.
The women's tournament, on the other hand, is much easier to handicap because it uses full national teams. So, if you factor in last year's FIFA Women's World Cup in China, two-time defending world champion Germany must be considered the favorite, although it must play runner-up Brazil in its opening-round group.
The U.S., champions at the 2004 Summer Games, experienced a disappointing WWC, not playing to its potential and finishing third.
"The girls were not happy taking only third in the World Cup, so that could serve as motivation for the Olympics," U.S. coach Pia Sundhage told the Associated Press.
The U.S. women should be able to advance out of Group G against Norway in Qinhuangdao Aug. 6 at 7:45 p.m. local time (7:45 a.m. ET), Japan in Qinhuangdao Aug. 9 at 5 p.m. local time (5 a.m. ET) and New Zealand in Shenyang at 7:45 p.m. local time (7:45 a.m. ET).
"If we don't get the gold medal, I don't know if I'll have a job," Sundhage said to the AP. "That's how it is in the U.S. They have high expectations."
Sundhage's contract runs through the Olympics.
The other women's groups:
Group E -- China, Sweden, Argentina, Canada
Group F -- North Korea, Nigeria, Germany, Brazil
The top two teams in each group and two wildcard sides will advance to the Aug. 15 quarterfinals. The semifinals are Aug. 18 with the gold medal match at Worker's Stadium in Beijing Aug. 21.
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.
