The United States men's under-23 soccer team was overmatched in its first Olympic quarterfinal since 2000, rarely looking capable of hanging with attack-minded Morocco during a 4-0 loss at the Parc des Princes on Friday.

The heavy defeat ends an otherwise promising if not redemptive return to the Olympics for a United States side that had failed to qualify for three straight Games.

Morocco has been one of the best attacking teams at the 2024 Paris Olympics and the United States opted for caution over the first 45 minutes even after going behind to Soufiane Rahimi's 29th-minute penalty, rarely pressing while sitting back in a bid to hit the Atlas Lions on the counterattack.

There was reason for hope at halftime, however, as the Yanks had yet to really push their attack and the penalty, while a clear penalty, was an unfortunate break as Nathan Harriel was not aware of the man he caught with his clearance bid for the Morocco penalty.

Yet the second half showed why coach Marko Mitrovic might've been hesitant to press Morocco, as the U.S. looked disheveled once it tried to go shot-for-shot with the the Atlas Lions. Strong showings were few for Mitrovic's men, with Nashville SC's Walker Zimmerman and Wolfsburg's Kevin Paredes standing out from a lackluster XI and subs.

PSG star Achraf Hakimi and Villarreal wing Ilias Akhomach had a field day on the right side of Morocco's attack, as John Tolkin had an off day at left back following a pair of strong showings in U.S. wins over New Zealand and Guinea. Former Barcelona prospect Abde Ezzalzouli has shown his pedigree in this tournament as well, and scored five times in all competitions for Real Betis last season.

And, again, there's not necessarily shame in running into a bad stylistic and personnel matchup. Morocco's midfield and center back group included Oussama El Azzouzi, Oussama Targhalline, and Bilal El Khannous, players with strong club experience. They were also close to home and featured several players with Ligue 1 experience.

It's worth noting how strong this generation is that the U.S. U-23 men's soccer team had a solid tournament despite so many age-eligible players withheld from selection.

The full United States men's national team has regularly been among the younger teams in the world, and players' participation in the 2024 Copa America kept them from having reasonable hope of being released from their clubs for this tournament (European clubs are having preseason right now).

Ten players on the Copa America squad were aged 23 or younger: Fullbacks Joe Scally and Kristoffer Lund, forwards Ricardo Pepi, Brenden Aaronson, and Folarin Balogun and midfielders Johnny Cardoso, Malik Tillman, Giovanni Reyna, and Yunus Musah.

Mitrovic also put his roster together without including Esmir Bajraktarevic, Diego Luna, Bryan Reynolds, Aidan Morris, Cade Cowell, and Rokas Pukstas, the last of whom will still be eligible come 2028.

The future is bright.