The big names in men's soccer are flexing after the second day of group stage play at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Spain and France are 2-0, while Argentina played like an aggrieved team which feels it should still be unbeaten over 180 minutes in France.

There's a dark horse, too, and a big question: What to make of the United States following a blowout win that followed-up a blowout loss?

There are valid reasons that Spain and France are among the favorites in any soccer competition: they score goals and rarely give up good chances.

Spain has conceded in each game so far, but the fact that it is 2-0 and the clear class of both games despite not being near its best somehow feels like as good a sign as boat racing Uzbekistan and the 10-man Dominican Republic.

Thierry Henry's French will be a little less impressed with its Saturday given it only scored once when Kiliann Sildillia's glancing header of a superb Michael Olise cross delivered a 1-0 win over Guinea.

But the crunching tackles were there, and center back duo Loic Bade and Castello Lukeba look the real deal as France will look to sew up the group against a New Zealand side that was exposed in its second game.

Argentina's senior team has piled up trophies, going Copa America-World Cup-Copa America for Lionel Messi and Co.

This U23 team may just follow suit, buoyed by a young player who has a couple of those trophies in his home.

Julian Alvarez and Nicolas Otamendi have all three of those, while Thiago Almada won the World Cup and all three players are shining so far in Paris.

Man City star Alvarez looks especially clinical, producing two assists on Saturday and looking like a man happy to have leading man status on a team. He's behind Erling Haaland at City and Messi (and others) on the senior team, but this has been Alvarez's show.

If Argentina wins more shiny stuff, it'll be driven by Alvarez. And at this point, it might be a surprise if he doesn't deliver the goods.

Just look at the ab assist he gave Almada. Wow.

We won't see Spain and France in the gold medal game, however, unless one fails to win their group on Tuesday.

The tournament looks like it's done a favor to the winner of Group D, and Japan are fully prepared to take advantage of that given its form through two games.

Three players have scored twice for Japan — Rihito Yamomoto, Shunsuke Mito, and Shota Fujio — and it has yet to concede a goal (even if it did concede an unsuccessful penalty).

Presuming Spain won Group C, Japan appears set for Egypt in the quarterfinal. It's been 56 years since Japan won an Olympic medal. That could end this year in Paris.

We've written elsewhere about why Olympic success could be so huge for the U.S. men even with an off-podium finish, but it might just do both.

After all, the Yanks produced danger in the 3-0 tournament-opening loss to hosts France. The result was deserved, but the Americans were far from poor.

The U.S. men do not have a talisman like France's Olise or Argentina's Alvarez, and there's no question it would love someone like that on this team.

But it is a blessing that the Yanks can use so many versatile attacking pieces at a given time, and that there's no group of guaranteed starters for opponents' game plans.

Duncan McGuire, Kevin Paredes and Paxten Aaronson have started both games so far but Griffin Yow was bright off the bench and Taylor Booth has shown glimpses as well.

The U.S. also has familiarity in the midfield with Venezia duo Gianluca Busio and Tanner Tessmann plus a full USMNT center back pair in Walker Zimmerman and Miles Robinson.

Why not? The only real worry is that Argentina could be awaiting in the quarterfinals, and Alvarez looks sharp.