He’s never troubled, is he? Michael Olise, only weeks removed from a $65 million transfer to Bayern Munich, scored a stunner as France strolled past the United States in a cool 3-0 victory. Surprisingly, Olise looked as unbothered and nonchalant as ever after France’s second goal. Olise cut inside with his dominant left foot from the right, easily beating Paxten Aaronsen, and, seemingly with all the time in the world, sent a curling effort past the keeper and into the back of the net.
The really troubling part? Olise made it seem too easy.
The ex-Crystal Palace winger shrugged off his smooth finish, pretending he had scored in FIFA rather than in the Olympics. For once, Walker Zimmerman’s commands to the rest of the Americans looked more like panic than motivation.
The goal was symbolic of a match where it seemed the USMNT was stuck chasing France around for 90 minutes. Despite the American team’s high hopes entering the match, they were simply outplayed in front of a rabid Marseille crowd.
Although the American squad entered the match as vast underdogs, they held their own against France. Olise, drifting in and out of his assigned right-wing slot, struggled to create chances against the United States’ compact defense. France had to settle for long shots, some of which troubled keeper Patrick Schulte.
Surprisingly, it was the United States who came up with the first big chance of the day. Djordje Mihailovic, one of the team’s three overage players, controlled a ball rolling in from a stray free kick. Mihailovic belted his shot from nearly 30 yards out, beating Toulouse stopper Guillarme Restes but hitting the crossbar.
Alexandre Lacazette opened up the scoring for France in the 61st minute, partly thanks to Olise. It was Olise, the creative genius, who drifted in from the right into the attacking third and beating some tackles before stabbing a ball to Lacazette. Midfielder Gianluca Busio picked up Lacazette early, but the ex-Arsenal attacker got enough separation to rifle a shot from beyond the box. Lacazette’s shot bounced and rolled past the outstretched arms of Schulte and into the bottom left corner to give France the 1-0 lead.
After that, France completely controlled the game. Lacazette assisted Olise on the second goal, who casually turned past Aaronsen to fire another shot from into the bottom left corner. Olise, swarmed by his teammates, showed little emotion. Throughout the match, Olise was calculated, precise serial killer who struck the States time and time again with his creativity.
The quiet intelligence, fanciful dribbling, piercing long balls crescendoed into this — a stadium of 67,000 yelling his name. Even if he didn’t travel with Didier Deschamps and company to Germany for the Euros, Olise is France’s sweetheart.
France all but finished the game in its dying moments. Joris Chotard lofted a corner to center-back Loic Badé. Badé lost his marker as bodies in blue flew and Americans appealed to the referee. Badé, virtually open in the penalty spot, nodded his header just past Schulte to go up 3-0.
When the States looked out, Westerlo winger Griffin Yow nearly got them back in the game. Yow settled a pinpoint ball from the backline under pressure from left-back Adrien Truffert. Truffert went down under what looked like a shove. One-on-one with Restes, Yow comfortably converted his shot.
However, the linesman (and a brief VAR check) confirmed that Yow was offsides in the goal’s buildup. The States’ rare moment of brilliance was unfortunately snatched away from them. Yow lifted his head to the sky, threw his arms, kicked at the Vélodrome’s grass, but nothing changed. A dejected United States squad aiming for the moon in their first Olympics match since 2008 was cruelly brought down to earth by a dominant French squad.
France can seal its voyage to the quarterfinals with a win over Guinea, who lost 1-2 to New Zealand earlier today. The Americans can redeem themselves with a positive result against New Zealand on Saturday.
PHOTOS: IMAGO
