Olympic soccer is a big deal in the women’s game, ranking second in prestige and importance to the World Cup. In men’s circles, not so much. It’s an age-restrictive tournament that FIFA, the sport’s international governing body, does not take seriously and doesn’t want to grow. (More on that later.)
For those reasons, under any circumstances, U.S. sports fans would be better off paying greater attention to the 12-nation women’s competition than the 16-team men’s. There’s no choice this summer — or four of the past five Olympic summers — because the U.S. men failed to qualify again.