The United States opened their Olympic competition with a hard fought victory over Japan by a score of 1-0. The U.S. team had more possessions in the first half with Japanese applying late pressure. Stuart Holden scored the winning goal in the 47th minute by striking a loose ball at the penalty area. This was a must win for the U.S. since they have heavy favorites Nigeria and Netherlands in their Group. Next, the USA faces the Dutch team on Sunday August 10.
Results
| Group A | |||
| Australia | 1 | Serbia | 1 |
| Ivory Coast | 1 | Argentina | 2 |
| Group B | |||
| Japan | 0 | USA | 1 |
| Netherlands | 0 | Nigeria | 0 |
| Group C | |||
| Brazil | 1 | Belgium | 0 |
| China | 1 | New Zealand | 1 |
| Group D | |||
| Honduras | 0 | Italy | 3 |
| South Korea | 1 | Cameroon | 1 |
Standings
| Group A | Group B | ||||||||||||
| GP | W | L | D | Pts | GP | W | L | D | PTS | ||||
| Argentina | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Australia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Serbia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Nigeria | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Ivory Coast | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Japan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Group C | Group D | ||||||||||||
| GP | W | L | D | Pts | GP | W | L | D | PTS | ||||
| Brazil | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | Italy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| China | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Cameroon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | South Korea | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Belgium | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Honduras | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
