The 2024 Olympics men's soccer field will not feature the 2016 and 2020 gold medalists.
Brazil, the two-time defending Olympic champions, failed to qualify for the Paris Games on Sunday after losing 1-0 to Argentina in the final stage of the CONMEBOL pre-Olympic tournament. Argentina clinched a berth with the win, leaving the final slot to be determined via the game between Venezuela and Paraguay later Sunday.
Paraguay will qualify with a win or tie, and would officially win the tournament unless the tie is 2-2 or greater.
Argentina got the decisive goal via a beautiful cross from Valentín Barco to Luciano Gondou.
🇦🇷Valentin Barco with an amazing assist to give Argentina the lead against Brazil! #BHAFC pic.twitter.com/w6CtKGdCMw
— Owen (@owen_bhafc) February 11, 2024
The Olympic tournament is notably different than the other world soccer tournament held every four years, the World Cup, in that it features a much small field and rosters of mostly under-23 players, with each team allowed only three senior players. Qualifying tournaments feature similarly young players.
Qualifying out of South America is notoriously difficult, with only two slots going to one of the world's most competitive continents. In addition to the Argentina loss, Brazil fell 1-0 to Paraguay on Monday and beat Venezuela 2-1 on Thursday.
While Brazil is out, the United States men's team will play in the tournament for the first time in 2008 via its win in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship. Here's the rest of the field so far:
Host nation: France
CONCACAF: United States, Dominican Republic
UEFA: Spain, Israel, Ukraine
CAF: Morocco, Egypt, Mali
OFC: New Zealand
CONMEBOL: Argentina, Venezuela/Paraquay
The remaining four slots will be determined by the AFC tournament in Asia and the AFC-CAF playoff.
