Sources: Marko Mitrović to be named U.S. Olympic Coach
Marko Mitrović is set to be appointed as the head coach of the U.S. men’s Olympic soccer team, sources tell MIR97 Media. Team USA will return to the event for the first time since 2008, and has high expectations ahead of the prestigious U-23 event in Paris. The ex-Chicago Fire assistant will be the man who will attempt to guide the Stars and Stripes to their first Olympic medal in program history, with an announcement from U.S. Soccer expected to be made Wednesday.
Mitrović, who originally hails from Serbia, is a World Cup champion as a coach with the Serbian U-20 team, where he was a part of Veljko Paunović’s staff that stunned Brazil in 2015. After four years with the Fire, he also had a brief stint at Reading, before becoming the U.S. U-19 National Team coach last year and assisting B.J. Callaghan as the USMNT won the CONCACAF Nations League earlier this summer. The Olympic team gig represents the biggest head coaching job of his career.
The U-23 national team will officially begin its cycle next month with a camp in October, and there will also be a camp in November. It is also anticipated that there will be a handful of other camps as the team builds towards the Paris Olympics, which will officially open on July 26th of next year. Players born in 2001 and later are eligible for selection, though for the actual Olympic tournament itself, up to three “overage” players are also allowed.
Brian Gutiérrez and Chris Brady, the Fire’s two breakout homegrown stars of the last few months, are both contenders to make the Olympic team. Both have spoken about their desires to play in the Olympics in the past and have spoken of their pride in representing the U.S. at the international level. Ex-Fire homegrown Gaga Slonina is also age-eligible and made his senior national team debut earlier this year.
In addition, ten players from the most recent USMNT roster are eligible for the Olympics. Those are, in descending order of age, Folarin Balogun, Johnny Cardoso, Kristoffer Lund, Malik Tillman, Yunus Musah, Joe Scally, Ricardo Pepi, Kevin Paredes, Cade Cowell, and Benjamin Cremaschi. Others, like Gio Reyna, Bryan Reynolds, Aidan Morris, and Paxten Aaronson are also within the applicable age bracket. Stars such as Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, and Tyler Adams are among those to express interest in the Olympic tournament in the past and could be contenders to be overage players if made available by their clubs next summer.
