US Men Beaten 4-0 by Morocco and Eliminated from Olympic Soccer Tournament

Morocco's forward #15 Mehdi Maouhoub (R) celebrates with Morocco's defender #02 Achraf Hakimi (L) after scoring a penalty kick for his team's fourth goal during the men's quarter-final football match between Morocco and the USA at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Parc des Princes in Paris on August 2, 2024. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
Morocco's forward #15 Mehdi Maouhoub (R) celebrates with Morocco's defender #02 Achraf Hakimi (L) after scoring a penalty kick for his team's fourth goal during the men's quarter-final football match between Morocco and the USA at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Parc des Princes in Paris on August 2, 2024. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
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US Men Beaten 4-0 by Morocco and Eliminated from Olympic Soccer Tournament

Morocco's forward #15 Mehdi Maouhoub (R) celebrates with Morocco's defender #02 Achraf Hakimi (L) after scoring a penalty kick for his team's fourth goal during the men's quarter-final football match between Morocco and the USA at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Parc des Princes in Paris on August 2, 2024. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
Morocco's forward #15 Mehdi Maouhoub (R) celebrates with Morocco's defender #02 Achraf Hakimi (L) after scoring a penalty kick for his team's fourth goal during the men's quarter-final football match between Morocco and the USA at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Parc des Princes in Paris on August 2, 2024. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)

The United States was eliminated from the Olympic men's soccer tournament on Friday after a 4-0 loss to Morocco in the quarterfinals.

Soufiane Rahimi, Ilias Akhomach, Achraf Hakimi and Mehdi Maouhoub scored the goals at Parc des Princes that ended US hopes of a medal at the Paris Games, The Associated Press reported.

Morocco, which enjoyed fervent support in the French capital, will play the winner of Japan vs. Spain in the semifinals in Marseille on Monday.

The US qualified for the quarterfinals of the Olympics for the first time since Sydney 2000 but was outclassed by a polished Morocco team that had already beaten Argentina in the group stage.

Rahimi scored a penalty in the 29th minute and Akhomach doubled the lead in the 63rd.
Hakimi rolled in the third after a solo run in the 70th.

Maouhoub, a substitute, finished off the rout with a penalty in second-half stoppage time.

In front of a packed crowd at the home of Paris Saint-Germain, Morocco dominated the chances in the first half, but needed a penalty to find a breakthrough after Nathan Harriel fouled Rahimi in the box.

Despite protests from the American players, referee Yael Falcón Pérez pointed to the spot and Rahimi fired low to the left and beyond the dive of Patrick Schulte.

Miles Robinson had a golden chance to level the game in the 59th when collecting a knockdown from about six yards out, but shot wide.

That miss proved even more costly when Morocco extended its lead four minutes later through Akhomach, who slotted past Schulte from close range after Abde Ezzalzouli’s cross.

Hakimi, who plays his club soccer for PSG, added a third shortly after — carrying the ball to the edge of the box before firing into the bottom right hand corner.
Morocco made it 4-0 in stoppage time when Harriel handled in the box and, after a VAR review, a second penalty was awarded and Maouhoub converted.



Carlos Alcaraz Reaches Olympics Men's Tennis Singles Final by Beating Felix Auger-Aliassime

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain celebrates after defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in their men's singles semifinals tennis match, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain celebrates after defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in their men's singles semifinals tennis match, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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Carlos Alcaraz Reaches Olympics Men's Tennis Singles Final by Beating Felix Auger-Aliassime

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain celebrates after defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in their men's singles semifinals tennis match, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain celebrates after defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in their men's singles semifinals tennis match, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Carlos Alcaraz moved one win away from becoming the youngest man to win an Olympics tennis singles gold medal, beating Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1 in the Paris Games semifinals on Friday.

Alcaraz is a 21-year-old from Spain who already owns four Grand Slam titles — including in June at Roland Garros, the clay-court facility being used for tennis at the 2024 Games — and is about a month younger than Vincent Richards of the US was when he claimed the gold in Paris in 1924.

With dozens of spectators waving red-and-yellow Spanish flags at Court Philippe Chatrier or yelling “Vamos, Carlos!” on a cloudy afternoon — and a soundtrack provided during breaks in the action by a brass band in the stands — Alcaraz was superb.

He never faced a break point. He won the point on 10 of 11 trips to the net. He made just 13 unforced errors, 10 fewer than Auger-Aliassime, who also lost to Alcaraz at this year's French Open.

“I just couldn’t find a way to be comfortable in any pattern, any position. Whether it was trying to dominate the forehand cross-court or change of direction, the forehand inside-out, the backhand side,” The AP quoted Auger-Aliassime as saying. “Every aspect. The movement. The defense. I was dominated.”

Auger-Aliassime is a 23-year-old Canadian whose best showing at a major tournament was a semifinal appearance at the 2021 US Open. Auger-Aliassime made it to that round back then when Alcaraz, just 18 at the time, stopped playing in the second set of their quarterfinal because of an injured leg muscle.

“He’s improved a lot, every time we’ve played,” said Auger-Aliassime, who beat Alcaraz in each of their first three head-to-heat contests but now has lost the four since, all in straight sets. “I don’t have the solutions right now.”

The Alcaraz on display during his Olympics debut is, indeed, much more of a finished product, someone who has won 12 consecutive matches at Roland Garros and collected a second consecutive title at Wimbledon last month, too.

Alcaraz defeated 24-time Slam champion Novak Djokovic in both of those finals at the All England Club, and there could be a rematch for the men's gold on Sunday. That's because Djokovic, a 37-year-old from Serbia, was scheduled to play Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in Friday's second Olympic semifinal.

It was unclear how fit Djokovic would be for that match, because he felt what he described as “sharp pain” in his surgically repaired right knee while getting past Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals Thursday night. Musetti eliminated Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Alexander Zverev.

The women's singles final is Saturday, with Zheng Qinwen of China playing against Donna Vekic of Croatia. Iga Swiatek of Poland and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia met Friday for the bronze.

In the men's doubles semifinals Friday, Matt Ebden and John Peers of Australia defeated Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul of the United States 7-5, 6-2. They will go up against another American duo, fourth-seeded Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, for the gold.

In women's doubles, Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini of Italy advanced to the gold-medal match with a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic.