The U.S. men’s soccer team will miss back-to-back Olympics for the first time in 36 years.
The Americans fell to Colombia 3-2 in an aggregate playoff for the 16th and final Olympic berth Tuesday, losing 2-1 in Frisco, Texas, after entering the match with an away-goals tiebreaker edge from Friday’s first-leg 1-1 draw.
The U.S. failed to qualify for the Olympics in its first attempt in a CONCACAF tournament in October, falling to Honduras in a winner-goes-to-Rio match. It rebounded to beat Canada to earn a spot in the last-chance playoff with Colombia.
The U.S. also failed to qualify for the 2004 and 2012 Olympics. It missed the 1976 and 1980 Olympics, but the U.S. boycotted the Moscow 1980 Games.
The last time the U.S. sent delegations to back-to-back Olympics without men’s soccer players was 1964 and 1968.
The Rio Olympic men’s soccer field:
Algeria
Argentina
Brazil
Colombia
Denmark
Fiji
Germany
Honduras
Iraq
Japan
Mexico
Nigeria
Portugal
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
The Olympic draw to determine each of the four-nation groups will be held April 14.
