U.S. men’s soccer team beaten by France, 3-0, in Paris Olympics opener

The U.S. men’s soccer team’s first game at the Olympics in 16 years ended in a 3-0 defeat to host France, which showed why it’s one of the favorites to win the gold.

Veteran striker Alexandre Lacazette, rising star Michael Olise, and Loïc Badé scored the goals, all in the second half, wearing out the Americans as the clock ticked away in Marseille.

With Union right back Nathan Harriel and former Union midfielder Paxten Aaronson, a Medford native, in the starting lineup, the U.S. gave a good effort in the first half, though France upped the ante late in the first half with a few powerful shots.

Aaronson had one of the Americans’ best looks, a cutting dribble from the left side and shot in the 39th minute that was saved well by French goalkeeper Guillaume Restes.

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U.S. goalkeeper Patrick Schulte only had to make one save from France’s seven shots in the first half, though a few others came close. Centerbacks Walker Zimmerman and Miles Robinson — two of the team’s three overage players on the otherwise under-23 squad — dug deep to stand up to France’s star-studded attack of Lacazette, Olise, and Jean-Philippe Mateta.

The second half lit up when Djordje Mihailovic, the U.S.’ third overage player, lashed a 25-yard blast off the crossbar in the 59th. Two minutes later, Lacazette struck in a rare moment when the American defense backed off.

It was a pretty simple play: Lacazette took the ball in the middle of the field, dribbled to the right, and, with ample space around him, hit a low shot from 25 yards. It sped past everyone and into the net at Schulte’s far post.

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The U.S. came remarkably close twice to scoring in the ensuing seconds: a 12-yard header by Aaronson that Restes saved, and a doorstep header by John Tolkin that hit the near post. But France scored next instead, as Olise curled a beautiful shot around Tolkin and high past Schulte.

Plays like that are why German superpower Bayern Munich paid over $65 million to sign Olise from England’s Crystal Palace earlier this month.

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Badé, one of France’s overage players along with Lacazette and Mateta, capped the scoring in the 85th.

U.S. coach Marko Mitrović used all five of his substitutions, including sending in Union midfielder Jack McGlynn for Mihailovic in the 76th minute. McGlynn swung in a pretty free kick at the start of second-half stoppage time that Harriel got an ounce of his head to, but it was an inch too high and Harriel couldn’t get up enough to direct it on frame.

Griffin Yow, another substitute, put the ball in the net in the 93rd but was offside by a fraction. A video review took a quick look and upheld the call.

“Maybe I’m subjective, but I don’t think it’s a fair result, if we watch especially the first 60-70 minutes [of] what happened on the field,” Mitrović told NBC’s broadcast about the lopsided final score. “I think every small inch of the field that we gave them, they used that today. They have a lot of qualities. Situations that we got, we didn’t convert, and you have days like that.”

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The good news is that the U.S.’ remaining games should be much easier than this one. Up next is New Zealand on Saturday in Marseille (1 p.m., USA Network, Telemundo, Peacock), then Guinea on Tuesday in Saint-Étienne (1 p.m., USA Network, Telemundo, Peacock).

New Zealand topped Guinea, 2-1, earlier Wednesday in Nice. It was a surprising result, since Guinea’s squad includes two big names from European clubs in midfielders Ilaix Moriba and Naby Keïta. The Kiwis have three players from MLS: Minnesota’s Michael Boxall, Vancouver’s Jay Herdman, and Portland’s Finn Surman.

“I think we had a lot of positives in this game,” Mitrović said. “Right now, we just have to recover emotionally. Physically, obviously, we have the next game in 65 hours.”

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