MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Djordje Mihailovic converted a penalty as the United States pounced early in a 4-1 victory over New Zealand on Saturday to stave off possible elimination at the Olympics.
A loss in Marseille could have ended the Americans’ chance to advance to the knockout round. The U.S. had lost to France in its Group A opener.
Mihailovic calmly hit the penalty in the eighth minute after Nathan Harriel was brought down in the box by Matthew Garbett.
Four minutes later, senior player Walker Zimmerman, a defender, made it 2-0 when he poked in a goal in a scramble in front of the net following a free kick.
“It’s kind of do-or-die time,” Zimmerman said. “We knew it would come down to the start that we would have, and to get an early goal just was huge. Kind of gave us confidence to really get into the tournament.”
Dominican Republic's Angel Montes de Oca, left, and Spain's Adrian Bernabe vie for the ball during the men's Group C soccer match at the Bordeaux stadium at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 27, 2024, in Bordeaux, France. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Moises Castillo
Gianluca Busio scored on a rebound at the half-hour mark and celebrated by dancing with teammate Kevin Paredes. Busio later left the game with what appeared to be a hamstring injury, but he said it was just a precaution.
Paxton Aaronson added a fourth goal for the United States in the 58th and New Zealand avoided the shutout with Jesse Randall’s late goal.
“For me, the most important thing is that we get there,” U.S. coach Marko Mitrovic said. “In some games, everything goes on your side. Sometimes it just goes the other way. The game against France was a game of inches, and today we were good at the first two opportunities … When you get in a game with 2-0 at the very beginning it’s obvious it’s a much easier game after that.”
New Zealand’s 2-1 opening victory over Guinea had put the team in a strong position to advance. The OlyWhites, as they are known, started the day second in the group to France.
The United States is set to play Guinea in its final group match Tuesday in Saint-Etienne. New Zealand plays France in Marseille.
Mitrovic said he’s not scoreboard watching.
“I don’t do the calculation. We never spoke about how we have to win, we have to tie,” the coach said. “We want to maximize every day and we want to maximize every game. Today we spoke before the game that every second on the field matters, that every action matters. And what we have to do is go and execute all those seconds and actions on the field and let’s see where that’s going to take us.”
New Zealand is making its fourth Olympic appearance. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Games after being disqualified for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics for using an ineligible player at a qualification tournament.
Ukraine 2, Morocco 1
There was no reprieve for Morocco this time.
After the chaos and violence that marred the end of its 2-1 win over Argentina in the Olympic men’s soccer tournament, Morocco conceded late again against Ukraine on Saturday — and this time the goal stood.
On Wednesday, Morocco fans rushed the field and threw bottles in protest when Cristian Medina appeared to score an equalizer in the 16th minute of stoppage time for Argentina — causing the game to be suspended for around two hours. That goal was later disallowed by VAR for offside.
But there was no sign of a repeat of those scenes when Ihor Krasnopir scored in the eighth minute of stoppage time to seal a 2-1 win for 10-man Ukraine at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
Morocco looked like it was edging closer to the quarterfinals after Soufiane Rahimi’s 64th-minute penalty leveled the game at 1-1. The forward, who took his total to three goals for the Paris Games, won the spot kick when he was fouled by Volodymyr Saliuk. Saliuk was sent off for the offense.
Ukraine had taken the lead in the 22nd through Dmytro Kryskiv.
Ukraine’s late win left all four teams in Group B tied on three points after Argentina shook off defeat to Morocco by beating Iraq 3-1 on Saturday in Lyon.
Argentina 3, Iraq 1
While Iraq threatened to pull off another surprise when Aymen Hussein leveled the game 1-1 in first-half stoppage time, goals from Luciano Gondou and Ignacio Fernandez sealed victory for Argentina.
Thiago Almada, who Argentina coach Javier Mascherano said had a watch stolen when the team’s training base was robbed earlier this week, opened the scoring with a volley in the 14th at Stade de Lyon.
Gondou’s far-post header in the 62nd restored Argentina’s lead after Hussein’s goal and Fernandez curled in a long-range shot from the edge of the box in the 85th.
“There were two options: dwell on what happened or look ahead. We focused on what we can control, which is to play football,” Mascherano said.
Spain 3, Dominican Rep. 1
Spain reached the quarterfinals with a 3-1 win over the Dominican Republic in Bordeaux.
Goals from Fermín Lopez, Alex Baena and Miguel Gutierrez made it two wins from two for Spain in Group C.
Lopez scored in the 24th, but Angel Montes de Oca evened the game in the 38th.
The Dominican Republic’s Edison Azcona was sent off before halftime. Baena restored Spain’s lead in the 55th and Gutierrez sealed the win in the 70th.
Spain’s men are aiming to add to a golden period for its nation’s soccer teams after the women’s team won the World Cup last year and the men won the European Championship earlier this month.
Egypt 1, Uzbekistan 0
Ahmed Koka scored in the 11th minute and Egypt beat Uzbekistan 1-0 to move a step closer to the knockout phase.
Egypt is in second place in Group C, behind Spain, which it plays plays on Tuesday.
A draw would be enough to see it advance.
The Dominican Republic plays Uzbekistan and is third on one point.
Paraguay 4, Israel 2
Marcelo Fernandez scored twice and Paraguay pulled away from Israel with two late goals in a 4-2 win in Group D in Paris.
Fernandez scored his first in the 25th minute for Paraguay, which had lost 5-0 in its opener against Japan. Israel pulled even on Omri Gandelman’s goal early in the second half.
Julio Enciso scored in the 69th to put Paraguay back in front until Oscar Gloukh’s equalizer in the 80th.
Fabian Balbuena scored three minutes into stoppage time to pull Paraguay in front before Fernandez capped it.
Israel drew 1-1 with Mali in the Olympics’ first event, also at Parc des Princes in Paris.
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AP Soccer Writer James Robson contributed to this report.
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