The U.S. men's soccer team would've been forgiven for refusing expectations ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and it could've seen its swagger slink away after Matchday 1's second-half blowout loss at the hands of the hosts.

Sitting at 0-1, these men could've acknowledged history as a big obstacle at its loss; the U.S. had failed to qualify for three successive Olympics and now needed near-perfection if it were to emerge from the group stage for the first time in 24 years when it hit the pitches of France this month.

Thing is, it did just that in clobbering New Zealand and firing past Guinea. And now the bracket has opened up enough to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the U.S. men may find themselves on its first men's soccer Olympic podium from a field of more than three teams (the U.S. sent two teams to the three-team 1904 Games, and won silver and bronze).

Tournament soccer always seems to deliver a surprise or two, and the U.S. men's status as co-leading scorers at the 2024 Paris Olympics counts as one while the bracket is another.

Morocco's controversial triumph over Argentina on the first matchday means that either France or Argentina will be kept off the medal stand after the two meet in the quarterfinals.

And so a win over Morocco at 9 a.m. ET Friday will not only guarantee the Yanks will play for a medal but also that neither of those aforementioned medal favorites will await them.

The route to gold, however, got a little bit more difficult. Egypt beat a much-changed Spain to win Group C earlier Tuesday, so either the Spanish or a strong-looking Japan would be the semifinal opponent for Marko Mitrovic's team.

The Yanks did not enter as the tournament as medal favorites but were arguably fourth on the radar behind France, Spain and Argentina, right there with Japan and Morocco as dark horses.

The 3-0 score line in the Americans' loss to France may color the perception of a game that was nil-nil at the break and closer on the stat page. Twin three-goal clean-sheet wins in the following games of the group stage will help, however, especially after the Yanks handily beat a Guinea team that had hung tough with the hosts on Matchday 2.

Morocco, meanwhile, has the tournament's leading scorer in Soufiane Rahimi and world-class fullback Achraf Hakimi but has shown soft spots after its scrappy and controversial 2-1 win over Argentina to open the tournament. A loss to Ukraine was followed by a blowout of Iraq, and there are probably as many questions about both teams.

This one feels like something close to a toss-up, but the Yanks' depth in attack and strong showings from Walker Zimmerman and the back line may be enough to have the Americans slightly favored over Hakimi and company.