Cahill, 2004

For the first time in 20 years, a current Metro is playing at the Olympics. The name of this one is obvious, but who was it 20 years ago? Hint: he actually scored a goal! In the Olympics, not for Metro. Alright, this is not exactly helping. You can see the full list here, but let's recap Metro's Olympic players, be it before, during, or after their stint here.

Let's start with the Seoul Olympics in 1988, when Metro and MLS were years before conception. The US tied two games, lost one, and departed. That team featured two-thirds of Metro's future Three Tenors, Tab Ramos and Peter Vermes, as well as Brian Bliss. As an interesting sidenote, the champion Soviet Union (remember them?) had a player named Igor Sklyarov, who almost became a Metro in 2001, if not for reasons shrouded in Sakiewiczian mystery.

Four future Metros were on the US roster in Barcelona in 1992: Manny Lagos, Claudio Reyna, the clown Alexi Lalas, and Chris Henderson, although the latter did not play. Lagos scored in a 3:1 win against Kuwait. And even though the US went 1-1-1 in group play, tying eventual silver medalist Poland, that was not enough to get them into the second round. Starring for the Poles was none other than Andrzej Juskowiak, whose seven goals led all scorers in the tournament. One of our favorite ex-Metros, Rhett Harty, lost a spot on the US roster with a late injury.

MLS started in 1996, and the US Olympic team has four CURRENT Metros on it: Damian Silvera, Miles Joseph, A.J. Wood, and Zach Thornton (Thornton did not play due to the overage call-up of Kasey Keller). But the quartet was just the beginning Metro bounty (another 1-1-1 record, another group exit for the US). Eight of the 18 US players had Metro ties at some point of their career; the future Metros were overage players Lalas and Reyna (who scored against Argentina... yes, that's right, Reyna scored an actual goal back in the day), as well as Billy Walsh (the lone collegian on the team, he didn't play) and Eddie Pope. Coaching the team was none other than Bruce Arena. But the future Metro contingent in 1996 did not end with the US, as Ghana was led by overage player Joe Addo.

	Kljestan, 2008

In 2000 in Sydney, the US finally made it out of the group (be it with a 1-0-2 record), and then beat Japan in the quarterfinals before falling to Spain in the semis and settling for fourth. Two current Metros were on that team: Ramiro Corrales and Tim Howard (overage Brad Friedel kept Timmy from the field in what still annoys us to this day). Also playing were future Metros Joey DiGiamarino, Chris Albright (he scored twice), and the overage Jeff Agoos.

The US failed to make the Athens Olympics in 2004, but a current Metro did make it. Pablo Brenes is your trivia answer: not only did he play for Costa Rica, he scored a goal against Portugal that gave the Ticos enough goal difference to push them into the second round. His Olympic tally is exactly one goal more than what he scored for Metro. A future Metro appeared for Australia: Tim Cahill. He scored against Serbia and Montenegro (it was one country back then), but the Aussies lost in the quarterfinals to upstart Iraq.

In the 2008 Beijing games, we saw three former and two future Metros take the field for the US (wake us up if you heard this: 1-1-1, first round exit). The former were Michael Bradley, Marvell Wynne, and Jozy Alidtore. The future were Sacha Kljestan and Dax McCarty. Kljestan and Altidore scored the two US goals against the Netherlands, but the US blew second-round qualification with an injury time equalizer. A Kljestan penalty against Nigeria came too late as US crashed out. Also losing in the first round was Australia, which featured future Metro David Carney.

2012 in London -- no US, no Metros. 2016 in Rio -- no US, no Metros. 2020 2021 in Tokyo -- no US, no Metros. 2024 in Paris -- John Tolkin! Oh, yeah, and France is coached by Thierry Henry. You might have heard of him!