They also made it to the 1980 version held in Moscow, the Soviet Union, but boycotted the games following the dispute that was surrounding the Soviet military aggression in Afghanistan. The United States of America failed to qualify for the soccer event in 2004 Athens Olympic. Having won their group matches, they lost to Mexico in the one-off qualifying match held at the historic Azteca Stadium.
The U. S. women brigade have secured Olympic Gold medals in soccer twice in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The 1988 Seoul Olympics mark a significant phase in the history of soccer in the Olympics. It was the last time when the Olympic soccer was an unrestricted event in which the U. S. National soccer team used to participate as the Olympic soccer team. Up until then, there was no bar regarding the age limit of the participants. But the FIFA, soccer's supreme governing body, imposed certain limitations regarding the age and experience of the players. The FIFA keeps in touch with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The following Olympic held in Barcelona, Spain saw a revolutionary change being brought about in Olympic soccer. The men's discipline was contended as an under-23 event for the first time in the history of Olympic games. It was the hosting nation Spain who eventually came off with flying colors at the famous Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona. More than 95000 Spanish fans went berserk with joy and self-pride. The electrifying atmosphere saw the birth of a new and refreshing era in the history of Olympic soccer.
Women's soccer in the Olympics was introduced in the 1996 Atlanta Games. The men's tournament also underwent an altered format as the concept of 'wild card' players was introduced in this edition of the Olympics. The 'wild card' players refer to those participants who were either over 23 years of age at the time of participation, or part of any earlier edition of the Olympics.
This attempt having failed to fetch the desired results gave way to a renewed version of Olympics that started rolling from 1896.
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