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.



China's State Media, Netizens Rally Around Pan after Claims 100m Swim not 'Humanly Possible'

China's Pan Zhanle takes part in warm up prior to an evening finals session of the swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on August 1, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
China's Pan Zhanle takes part in warm up prior to an evening finals session of the swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on August 1, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
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China's State Media, Netizens Rally Around Pan after Claims 100m Swim not 'Humanly Possible'

China's Pan Zhanle takes part in warm up prior to an evening finals session of the swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on August 1, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
China's Pan Zhanle takes part in warm up prior to an evening finals session of the swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on August 1, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

China's state media, athletes and netizens rallied to support Olympic swimming champion Pan Zhanle after critics including an Australian swim commentator said his world record swim in the 100 meters freestyle was not "humanly possible".
Pan smashed his own 100 meters freestyle world record, shaving 0.40 seconds off the previous mark he set at the World Championships in Doha in February, to humble rivals including Australia's Kyle Chalmers and Romania's David Popovici.
The 19-year old Pan finished in 46.40 seconds to take China's first swimming gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games. His win came after he "completed rigorous doping test programs prior to and during the games with zero positive results," the China Daily said on Friday.
According to Reuters, Pan said he took 21 doping tests from May to July prior to the games. "I cooperated with all the testing procedures and stayed confident that I am competing fair and clean," he told the newspaper.
"I did a lot of aerobics and endurance training to strengthen my push and kick in the final split. We have also adopted a scientific underwater monitoring and analyzing system to review our techniques and strokes, so that we can train better and more effectively."
Australian coach and commentator Brett Hawke posted on his Instagram that "It's not humanly possible to beat that field" and that the swim was "not real life. Not in that pool, against that field."
Hawke's comments were widely shared on China's Weibo platform with one user commenting: "It's so cool to see them incompetent, angry and breaking their defenses."
"He is praising us, saying that position is impossible but sorry we did it," said another.
The Chinese swim team has been under intense scrutiny since revelations in April that 23 of the country's swimmers tested positive for a banned heart medication in 2021 but were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted the findings of a Chinese investigation that the results were due to contamination from a hotel kitchen, and an independent review backed WADA's handling of the case.
A World Aquatics audit concluded there was no mismanagement or cover-up by the governing body. Pan's name was not among the Chinese swimmers listed in the reports by the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD.
"The Chinese swimming team underwent more tests in two weeks than foreign athletes did in an entire year," China's Global Times Newspaper wrote. Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei, who won the bronze medal in the women's 200 meter butterfly final, responded to questions about Pan during a press conference on Thursday.
"Why are Chinese athletes questioned when they swim so fast? Why didn't anyone dare to question Phelps when he won?"