When the United States U23 men's national team kicked off in the Olympic qualifying tournament, it did so understanding that the only meaningful way to measure success would be simple: qualify. Anything short of securing a trip to the delayed Tokyo Games will be viewed as a failure, especially in the wake of the senior team's collapse in 2018 World Cup qualifying and with the emergence of young Americans such as Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Sergino Dest playing at high levels in Europe.
With most of those high-profile, age-eligible stars unavailable for the under-23 event -- clubs are not required to release players for qualifying, nor for the Olympics -- coach Jason Kreis is relying on a group of mostly domestic-based players.