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.



Alcaraz, Djokovic, Musetti and Auger-Aliassime Reach Men's Semis in Olympic Tennis

Paris 2024 Olympics - Tennis - Men's Singles Quarterfinals - Roland-Garros Stadium, Paris, France - August 01, 2024. Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in action during his match against Tommy Paul of United States. REUTERS/Edgar Su
Paris 2024 Olympics - Tennis - Men's Singles Quarterfinals - Roland-Garros Stadium, Paris, France - August 01, 2024. Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in action during his match against Tommy Paul of United States. REUTERS/Edgar Su
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Alcaraz, Djokovic, Musetti and Auger-Aliassime Reach Men's Semis in Olympic Tennis

Paris 2024 Olympics - Tennis - Men's Singles Quarterfinals - Roland-Garros Stadium, Paris, France - August 01, 2024. Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in action during his match against Tommy Paul of United States. REUTERS/Edgar Su
Paris 2024 Olympics - Tennis - Men's Singles Quarterfinals - Roland-Garros Stadium, Paris, France - August 01, 2024. Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in action during his match against Tommy Paul of United States. REUTERS/Edgar Su

Carlos Alcaraz says he doesn't feel unbeatable at Roland Garros, the site of the Paris Olympics tennis competition and the French Open title he won last month. His opponents might disagree, The Associated Press reported.
Alcaraz ran his winning streak at the place to 11 matches and became the youngest man to reach the singles semifinals at a Summer Games since Novak Djokovic in 2008, getting past Tommy Paul of the US 6-3, 7-6 (7) at Court Philippe Chatrier on Thursday.
“I had a really great two weeks in Roland Garros — playing great tennis here, feeling great moving, feeling great hitting the ball. So (I came) here having the same feeling,” said Alcaraz, a 21-year-old Spaniard. “But I can lose against everybody. I have to respect every player.”
In the semifinals Friday, Alcaraz will take on Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, a 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 winner over three-time major runner-up Casper Ruud of Norway, and the 37-year-old Djokovic will meet Lorenzo Musetti of Italy. Djokovic felt pain in his surgically repaired right knee while beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Thursday night and said he's concerned about how he'll be against Musetti.
Musetti eliminated Tokyo Games gold medalist Alexander Zverev of Germany 7-5, 7-5.
“One of my best matches, so far, of my career,” said the 22-year-old Musetti, who reached his first major semifinal at Wimbledon last month before losing to Djokovic.
The women's final Saturday will be between Zheng Qinwen of China and Donna Vekic of Croatia. Zheng defeated No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland 6-2, 7-5, while Vekic was a 6-4, 6-0 winner against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia.
Alcaraz already owns four Grand Slam titles and is just a few days older than Djokovic was when he took home a bronze for Serbia 16 years ago in Beijing.
This is only the latest in a series of “youngest since” or “youngest ever” achievements for Alcaraz, whose recent championships at the French Open and Wimbledon raised his Grand Slam count to four. As it is, he was the youngest man with a major championship on hard, grass and clay courts. In 2022, he became the first teenager to reach No. 1 in the ATP rankings, getting there after winning the US Open.
And so on.
“It’s been a while since Alcaraz lost a match here,” Paul said, “so I would say that he’s probably the favorite, right?”
Alcaraz and Paul, whose best showing at a major was a semifinal run at the 2023 Australian Open, are developing a bit of a rivalry. Alcaraz is now 5-2 head-to-head, which includes defeating Paul a few weeks ago in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, AP said.
This one, played at Chatrier stadium with Spain's queen in the crowd, could have become a lot more complicated.
Paul nearly pushed the match to a third set.
“A really intense match,” Alcaraz said.
Paul served for the second at 5-3 and got within two points of taking it a couple of times there, but he couldn't get closer, including missing a volley off a dipping cross-court passing shot by Alcaraz, then pushing a backhand long. Alcaraz eventually broke with an on-the-run forehand passing winner after Paul smacked a terrific forehand approach shot to a corner.
The crowd went wild. Alcaraz pointed his right index finger to his ear, then raised that fist.
In the tiebreaker, Paul earned a set point at 7-6, and he conjured up a drop half-volley that Alcaraz sprinted to, then slid, and guided a down-the-line backhand that went off the edge of Paul's racket frame and toward the stands. Again, Alcaraz gestured as the spectators roared.
On Alcaraz's second match point, Paul yanked a forehand wide, and that was that.
“It’s not a secret that, right now," Paul said, “Alcaraz is kind of like the golden standard.”
After losing in singles, Paul went back out on court and teamed with Taylor Fritz to reach the doubles semifinals by beating Andy Murray and Dan Evans 6-2, 6-4 in the last match of Murray's career.
The three-time Grand Slam champion and the only player in Olympics tennis history with two singles golds had announced that he would retire after the Paris Games.
“I knew that moment was coming for the last few months. If it didn’t happen today, that was going to be in a couple days’ time, and I was ready for it. Obviously, I was emotional, because it’s the last time I will play a competitive match,” the 37-year-old Murray said. "But I am genuinely happy, just now. I’m happy with how it’s finished.”