[ColoradoTree]

I presume for some of the soccer matches, the US are overwhelming favorites.  I'd think all the older team members would be rested in those games, to avoid an injury and just to keep them fresher.  Wouldn't the coach try to get all the alternates into one game each?

I would have thought for a team sport, team members would get medals even if they never entered a game.  But, I can see not giving a medal for an alternate if they never were on a game's roster.

As I've said on the WWP thread, the Olympics has an 11-member roster for any WP game, but the team has 2 alternates that I expect they'll rotate into the roster for at least one game.  (WP has 7 athletes in the pool (6 field + goalie), so that leaves only 4 on the bench for any game. If one of those were a goalie, that only leaves 3 field players on the bench.  Players foul out from WP (for 3 major fouls) about as often as basketball players foul out.  I could see a physical game might leave a team playing short-handed.  If I were an opponent of the US, I'd be planning on doing just that.)

(I'm not assuming that the USA will get a medal, but am hoping they will.)

I think the difficulty with a low-scoring sport like soccer is that the better team often controls play but the scoreline doesn't fully reflect that dominance. So, the risk of not having your best options available for any particular match is pretty high. With just three group games and then the knockout round, deciding which game you take your foot off the gas is a tough one. The US is the favorite, but you rarely see thrashings in soccer, and getting full points from each match will be crucial. Anyway, here's the schedule:

7/21: #1 USA vs. #5 Sweden
7/24: #1 USA vs. #22 New Zealand
7/27: #1 USA vs. #9 Australia

Then, if we win the group, this is how the knockout stage likely sets up if we win out:

7/30: Quarterfinal vs. #10 Japan
8/2: Semifinal vs. Great Britain (basically #6 England)
8/6: Gold Medal vs. winner of #4 Netherlands vs. #7 Brazil

(Because UEFA used how far teams reached at the last World Cup as Olympic qualification, an unlucky draw there was really damaging here, and #2 Germany and #3 France are thus not in the Olympic tournament.)

Anyway, if we beat Sweden, that gives us an opportunity to rest a couple starters against New Zealand. Anyone with even a slightly tweaked hamstring sits that one out. But that's unlikely to include a goalkeeper, so Campbell stays an alternate while Macario/Krueger/Williams each dress for that match. If we win that match and advancement looks pretty safe, then we can rest a couple other players for the Australia match. But it all hinges on taking all three points from the Sweden match. If we don't, then you need two wins from the other two matches to feel safe, so you can't engage in strategic rest at that point. And in such a short tournament, if I'm the coach, the only goalkeeper who sees the field is my starter. Absent injury, you won't even see Franch, let alone Campbell. So, I don't think Vlatko will try and work in each of the alternates--he'll try and put the best 18 together for each match and then swap out for rest as necessary. 

And for team sports, yeah, everyone on the roster gets a medal even if they don't appear in a game. But alternates don't usually get medals, and what hasn't been made clear is whether the four alternates are considered to now be "on the roster" or just available to be added for a particular game with fewer complications. For practical and team management purposes, they're on the roster, and it seems like most of the press accounts of the change have focused on that. But given how important the title Olympian is and how important an Olympic medal is, I'm curious if all 22 get that title as of this moment. Do they get the official Olympic Team USA swag? Do they get to march in the Opening Ceremonies? Do they get to stay at the Olympic Village? (Alternates don't, except in very rare cases.) Being an Olympic alternate is a heartbreaking thing for many--so close, yet so far.

We drew the best "worst" team--New Zealand is organized and defends very well, relying on counterattacks rather than a possession-based style. They lose a lot of one-goal games that way, but they rarely get blown out. (No team has scored more than 2 goals against them in the past three World Cups, and the eventual runner-up Netherlands eked out a 1-0 win over them in 2019; we beat them just 2-0 at the Rio Olympics)  If we'd drawn Zambia, then sure, get all the alternates on the field in that game. But you can't take New Zealand too lightly or you'll be going home with a scoreless draw.

[ColoradoTree]

I presume for some of the soccer matches, the US are overwhelming favorites.  I'd think all the older team members would be rested in those games, to avoid an injury and just to keep them fresher.  Wouldn't the coach try to get all the alternates into one game each?

I would have thought for a team sport, team members would get medals even if they never entered a game.  But, I can see not giving a medal for an alternate if they never were on a game's roster.

As I've said on the WWP thread, the Olympics has an 11-member roster for any WP game, but the team has 2 alternates that I expect they'll rotate into the roster for at least one game.  (WP has 7 athletes in the pool (6 field + goalie), so that leaves only 4 on the bench for any game. If one of those were a goalie, that only leaves 3 field players on the bench.  Players foul out from WP (for 3 major fouls) about as often as basketball players foul out.  I could see a physical game might leave a team playing short-handed.  If I were an opponent of the US, I'd be planning on doing just that.)

(I'm not assuming that the USA will get a medal, but am hoping they will.)

I think the difficulty with a low-scoring sport like soccer is that the better team often controls play but the scoreline doesn't fully reflect that dominance. So, the risk of not having your best options available for any particular match is pretty high. With just three group games and then the knockout round, deciding which game you take your foot off the gas is a tough one. The US is the favorite, but you rarely see thrashings in soccer, and getting full points from each match will be crucial. Anyway, here's the schedule:

7/21: #1 USA vs. #5 Sweden
7/24: #1 USA vs. #22 New Zealand
7/27: #1 USA vs. #9 Australia

Then, if we win the group, this is how the knockout stage likely sets up if we win out:

7/30: Quarterfinal vs. #10 Japan
8/2: Semifinal vs. Great Britain (basically #6 England)
8/6: Gold Medal vs. winner of #4 Netherlands vs. #7 Brazil

(Because UEFA used how far teams reached at the last World Cup as Olympic qualification, an unlucky draw there was really damaging here, and #2 Germany and #3 France are thus not in the Olympic tournament.)

Anyway, if we beat Sweden, that gives us an opportunity to rest a couple starters against New Zealand. Anyone with even a slightly tweaked hamstring sits that one out. But that's unlikely to include a goalkeeper, so Campbell stays an alternate while Macario/Krueger/Williams each dress for that match. If we win that match and advancement looks pretty safe, then we can rest a couple other players for the Australia match. But it all hinges on taking all three points from the Sweden match. If we don't, then you need two wins from the other two matches to feel safe, so you can't engage in strategic rest at that point. And in such a short tournament, if I'm the coach, the only goalkeeper who sees the field is my starter. Absent injury, you won't even see Franch, let alone Campbell. So, I don't think Vlatko will try and work in each of the alternates--he'll try and put the best 18 together for each match and then swap out for rest as necessary. 

And for team sports, yeah, everyone on the roster gets a medal even if they don't appear in a game. But alternates don't usually get medals, and what hasn't been made clear is whether the four alternates are considered to now be "on the roster" or just available to be added for a particular game with fewer complications. For practical and team management purposes, they're on the roster, and it seems like most of the press accounts of the change have focused on that. But given how important the title Olympian is and how important an Olympic medal is, I'm curious if all 22 get that title as of this moment. Do they get the official Olympic Team USA swag? Do they get to march in the Opening Ceremonies? Do they get to stay at the Olympic Village? (Alternates don't, except in very rare cases.) Being an Olympic alternate is a heartbreaking thing for many--so close, yet so far.

We drew the best "worst" team--New Zealand is organized and defends very well, relying on counterattacks rather than a possession-based style. They lose a lot of one-goal games that way, but they rarely get blown out. (No team has scored more than 2 goals against them in the past three World Cups, and the eventual runner-up Netherlands eked out a 1-0 win over them in 2019; we beat them just 2-0 at the Rio Olympics)  If we'd drawn Zambia, then sure, get all the alternates on the field in that game. But you can't take New Zealand too lightly or you'll be going home with a scoreless draw.