Sendoff for U.S. Men’s Olympic Soccer Team kicks off summer of soccer in Kansas City

The summer of soccer in Kansas City got underway on Tuesday night, with a pre-Olympic tuneup between the U-23 squads for Japan and the United States at Children’s Mercy Park.

From Tuesday night’s match through August 25, there will be around 30 soccer games of interest to people in Kansas City, meaning games that either feature Sporting KC or the KC Current — or an international team (including the U.S.) playing in Kansas City.

Those events include: MLS and NWSL play, Copa America, international friendlies, the Leagues Cup, the NWSL X Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup, the U.S. Open Cup and the Women’s Cup. From that list, 23 games will be hosted here in Kansas City.

Tuesday marked the first KC-hosted international match in 2024. And while the profile of the match — a tuneup for the U-23 squads — attracted a smaller crowd, it gave a small dose of international atmosphere with a small but very vocal Japanese contingent drumming and cheering the visitors on the whole match.

Those visiting fans had plenty to cheer about as the Japan U-23 team played the U.S. U-23s off the pitch. A 2-0 scoreline arguably flattered the home-side U.S. team.

“Since we started this process eight months ago, this was the lowest performance by far that we had,” U.S. U-23 head coach Marko Mitrovic said after the match.

The US took two shots over the 90 minutes, neither of which were on target.

Japan took 13 shots and probably could’ve had more. Both goals came from mistakes from the U.S.

The first goal came from a penalty kick, which Japan earned after Bryan Reynolds’ handball inside the box. Shota Fujio scored, and the lead stood at 1-0 until the 69th minute.

U.S. goalkeeper Patrick Schulte knocked the ball away after a cross into the box, but it spilled right into the path of Mao Hosoya, who scored.

“Today, we didn’t show,” Mitrovic said. “We were so excited to come to Kansas City and just show the people that we are ready to have that excitement from people that will support us in the Olympic Games. But we will move forward (and) learn from this.”

Tanner Tessmann, who captained the U.S. team on Tuesday night, had praise for his experience in KC, even going back to attending Sporting KC’s 2-1 win over the Seattle Sounders with his teammate from Venezia FC, Gianluca Busio.

“I was really impressed with the facilities,” Tessmann said.

A homegrown player with FC Dallas before moving to Venezia, Tessmann had played in Kansas City a couple of times in his career.

“It was a great atmosphere,” Tessmann continued. “They do a really good job here. I will say the home locker room here is incredible. One of the best I’ve ever been in. So it makes you excited to play, it makes the fans enjoy it better, and it gets us ready for the Olympics.”

The U.S. Men’s Olympic Soccer Team will begin its campaign on July 24, playing against host-nation France in Marseille. To round out group play, the team will play New Zealand and Guinea. For men’s soccer, the Olympics is an under-23 competition, with three exceptions allowed, for the roster of 18 players. Rosters are due to be announced by July 3.

The KC Current will keep the weekly soccer train rolling with Friday night’s match against the Chicago Red Stars. Two weeks from Tuesday, the international soccer schedule resumes on June 25 with the Copa America Group A match between Canada and Peru. Canada’s squad will feature global star Alphonso Davies and a few familiar faces around Major League Soccer.

On July 1, the United States Men’s National Team will play Uruguay in its final group-stage match at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, also in Copa America action.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.