Marko Mitrovic, the coach in charge of the first U.S. men’s team to enter the Olympics since 2008, celebrated his 46th birthday on Monday. His gift was to face no questions from the assembled media — during the portion of a U.S. Soccer press conference that was available to reporters nationally on a Zoom call — about his stunning decision to exclude Major League Soccer star Diego Luna from the 18-player roster.
Journalists in the room in New York City asked questions of Mitrovic, women’s national team coach Emma Hayes and Olympians Walker Zimmerman and Lindsey Horan on a variety of different topics, but Mitrovic’s controversial roster choice was left unmentioned.
Except for one question in which the subtext was obvious to those who follow American soccer:
“Marko … the men’s team hasn’t been to the Olympics in quite a long time. What would you say was the differentiation point or points that were able to get you to this time?”
Mitrovic acknowledged that Olympics entry had been achieved by the Under-20 squad, under coach Mikey Varas, which won the CONCACAF championship in 2022 that served as the qualifier for both the FIBA U20 World Cup and the 2024 Paris Games. And Luna was a huge part of that performance, recording four assists and a goal as the…
