Marseille, France — Sasha Kljestan scored a penalty kick two minutes before the United States was prematurely eliminated from the men's soccer match at the Beijing Olympics, but it did little to change the result and was not enough to save the Americans, who left China after their final group game.
But that also made Kljestan the answer to an unwelcome trivia question: Who was the last American male soccer player to score a goal at the Olympics?
Kljestan was 22 at the time and in the middle of his third season in MLS. He played more than 470 games for four teams on two continents, winning eight trophies with Belgium and a Supporters' Shield in the United States before retiring two years ago.
2024 Paris Summer Olympics
His first professional team, Chivas USA, disbanded 10 years ago.
But in all that time, no player has scored a goal for the U.S. in men's Olympic soccer, as the U.S. men haven't played in a Summer Olympics since 2008.
“It's really embarrassing,” Kljestan said.
The U.S. missed out on the Summer Olympics in London, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo and has only played in the tournament once since 2000. That was the only time the team had made it out of the group stage since the Olympics became an U-23 tournament in 1992.
But they are in France, opening their tournament campaign against hosts Marseille on Wednesday, and Kljestan made just one request when he met with his squad during a brief training camp last month.
“Please, somebody just score a goal,” he said.
Getting out of the first round would be nice, too — a top-two finish for the U.S. out of a field of four teams that also includes New Zealand and Guinea — would be a great first step in returning to the Olympics after a 16-year absence, even if it's a long wait.
U.S. midfielder Sasha Kljestan (left) battles for the ball with Ryan Babel of the Netherlands during a group stage match at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
(Vincent Yu/The Associated Press)
“I'm surprised it's taken this long,” said former Galaxy midfielder Robbie Rogers, who started all three games for the U.S. in 2008. “I don't know why it's so hard. The Olympics are so special and exciting. Our development system should be focused on the Olympics, and I feel like for whatever reason it's been overlooked a little bit.”
Krjestan agreed.
“It's embarrassing, to be honest with you,” he reiterated. “You look at the qualifiers, we lost to teams we shouldn't have lost to. It looked like we had a lack of mentality. It's a big failure on our part, on U.S. Soccer's part.”
“I hope it will become a hot topic in Paris too.”
It would have been easier if the U.S. had brought its best team. Under FIFA rules, the men's Olympic tournament is an age-group tournament open only to players born after Jan. 1, 2001, but only three players per team can be over the age limit. But age-restricted players were left out of the U.S. team, including Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, Malik Tillman, Johnny Cardoso, Yunus Musah and Gio Reyna, who play in Europe and instead played in the Copa America under coach Gregg Berhalter.
Other players coveted by Olympique coach Marko Mitrovic were not released by their clubs to play in France, leaving an 18-man roster led by forwards Kevin Paredes, who plays for Wolfsburg in the German Bundesliga, and Taylor Booth, who scored five goals last season for Utrecht in the Dutch Eredivisie. Among the overage players is Nashville center back Walker Zimmermann, who appeared in all four games for the United States at the last World Cup.
“In my cycle, I didn't qualify,” said the 31-year-old Zimmerman, who played on the U.S. team that lost a best-of-two playoff to Colombia for the final Olympic spot in 2016. “I thought my dream was over then, but this year, things have come together and just having the opportunity is great.”
Kljestan said the opportunities are even greater for younger players. Speaking with the U-23 squad last month, Kljestan, who has played 52 games for the senior national team under three coaches, pointed out that 16 of the 18 players from the Beijing Olympics are now playing for the senior national team and six are on the roster for the next World Cup.
For many of the players, the Olympics is just a stop on a long journey, not the final destination, but it is also a vital part of national team player development that has been missing for the last 16 years, or for as long as Kljestan's name has been an answer to a trivia quiz.
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