Hosts and favourites to clinch gold, France face off against a USA team who have their sights firmly on making history and achieving a medal position for the first time in over a century.
Les Blues are without a shadow of a doubt the best team on paper in the competition, owing to the quality that runs through their squad and, in particular, their depth.
Stewarded by France and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, he will have hopes of guiding his homeland to their first gold medal victory since Los Angeles 1984, 40 years ago.
Although, take that with a pinch of salt, France have been absent from football at the Olympics for almost 28 years; their last outing was Atlanta 1996, where they reached the quarter-finals.
The French 2024 Olympic squad is one blessed with talent. Captained by Alexandre Lacazette, who is, of course, one of the three permitted overage players, he will bring vast amounts of experience.
Along with Lacazette, Sevilla's Loic Bade and Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta fill the other two spaces for over 23 players.
Henry will look to tap into the strong connection between Mateta and Bayern Munich's latest acquisition, Michael Olise, which they displayed to devastating effect at the backend of last season for the south London based side.
Rennes exciting prodigy Desire Doue is the only teenager in the squad and will excite crowds in Paris.
Preparations for the Games have been going well for Henry and France. They have secured a 4-1 victory over Paraguay and an emphatic 7-0 drumming of the Dominican Republic already this month. Les Blues will be desperate to carry this form into a home Olympics.
In a similar vein to the French, the United States have been starved of success in football at the Olympics, despite their last appearance coming earlier than Les Blues.
The US competed at Beijing 2008, but went out with a whimper. Discarding the fact that they came narrowly close to a medal position at Sydney 2000, a recurring pattern for the US is to crash out in the group stages.
It says a lot when their best showing came all the way back in 1904 St Louis, a century ago.
The build-up to Paris 2024 has not been plain sailing for America, to say the least.
The recent Olympic roster announcement on July 9 had US soccer fans up in arms regarding selection.
The three overage players, Miles Robinson, Walker Zimmermann, and Djordje Mihailovic, were underwhelmed.
Meanwhile, the notable absence of Real Salt Lake playmaker Diego Luna and the inclusion of only one true No.9, Duncan McGuire, had fans scratching their heads.
The Olympics is not a fully sanctioned FIFA tournament, so it seems the USA have suffered with clubs not giving players permission to join up with the squad.
Also, the unfortunate timing of the Copa America in the same month means fewer top players are available to be selected.
France are more than likely to top the group; therefore, Mitrovic's side will be focused on securing passage through second place.
Heading into this game, the US will be the underdogs, yet they did battle to a 2-2 draw with the hosts earlier in the month.
With a home crowd behind them and the added quality of the likes of Olise, Mateta, and Lacazette, it is panning out to be a comfortable victory for Les Blues.
Team News
Chrislain Matsima departed from the men's Olympic set up today, the French Football Federation announced. However, he remains available as a reserve for the competition.
Chelsea's Lesley Ugochukwu left the France Olympic football team last Friday at the request of the West London side. He will no longer be available as a reserve.
Ugochukwu joins Lens midfielder Andy Diouf, who also returned to his club last week.
Henry and his technical staff replaced the Chelsea youngster with Olympique Lyonnais midfielder Johann Lepenant on Sunday.
Paris Saint-Germain duo Warren Zaire-Emery and Bradley Barcola dropped out of the squad earlier in the month. Meanwhile, new Manchester United defender Leny Yoro was also cut.
Apart from that, Henry is expected to have a fully fit squad at his disposal on Wednesday.
Among the 18 players selected, talisman and golden boy Olise will start, captain Lacazette and in-form Mateta will lead the line.
Rennes are the most represented club for France, defender Adrien Truffert the most likely to feature from the French side in Wednesday's starting eleven.
USA
Having confirmed their final squad around a similar time to the French, the USA are also expected to have a fully fit roster at their disposal.
Given McGuire is their only true No.9 it is more than likely the Orlando City striker will lead the line for the United States.
Wolfsburg's Kevin Paredes and last season's Utrecht loanee Paxten Aaronson will occupy the flanks.
US manager Mitrovic will hope to tap into the Tanner Tessmann and Gianluca Busio chemistry that paid dividends for Venezia and helped them get promoted.
The experience of Zimmermann will be useful for marshalling the backline.
Ricardo Pepi, Giovanni Reyna, Joe Scally, or Folarin Balogun are all unavailable owing to the Copa America and were therefore not selected.
Likely line-ups
Formation: 4-3-1-2
Restes; Sildillia, Bade, Lukeba, Truffert; Millot, Kone, Chotard; Olise; Mateta, Lacazette
USA
Formation: 4-3-3 (Difficult to predict, Griffin Yow could come in for Aaronson, Taylor Booth for one of the midfielders).
Schulte; Reynolds, Tomkinson, Zimmerman, Tolkin; Busio, Tessmann, Morris; Paredes, McGuire, Aaronson
Key Players
France - Michael Olise
Eyebrows were raised when Didier Deschamps chose not to take Michael Olise to Euro 2024, and following their exit at the hands of Spain in the semi-final, the 55-year-old cannot help but rue his mistake.
One of the most exciting young talents in world football right now, the winger just sealed a move to German giants Bayern Munich after his scintillating displays at Crystal Palace.
The 22-year-old terrorised Premier League defences under Austrian Oliver Glasner, looking unplayable towards the backend of last season.
One criticism of Olise has always been scoring goals; however, now that he has added that to his game, any team who has him at their disposal automatically gains an advantage.
The right winger registered an absurd 10 goals and six assists in just 19 games in an injury-stricken 2023–24 campaign.
He possesses fabulous footwork, brilliant passing range, a wand of a left foot when he cuts in, and overall marvellous technical ability.
The former Eagles talisman carries an attacking threat anywhere on the pitch.
During preparations for Paris 2024, Olise has shown signs of carrying that form into the national team.
Against Paraguay, Olise picked up the ball from deep, drove at the opposition defence, spotted Mateta in space, and threaded the striker through on goal to open the scoring.
He also netted twice for the U-23 side, the best of the two was the long range strike versus Japan to make sure France got something out of the match, quintessential Olise, the difference maker.
USA - Gianluca Busio
From one exciting young talent to another, while Gianluca Busio has not hit the heights of Olise, he has also enjoyed a breakout 2023–24 season.
Applying his trade for Venezia in Serie B, the midfielder scored seven goals and contributed five assists.
Since his days at Sporting KC in the MLS, there has been a lot of hype surrounding Busio. After moving to Italy for a club-record fee, however, he struggled to adapt to European football and its demands.
He has always been among the standouts for the USA abroad, but he never had the attacking numbers to back it up.
He was very much defined as the hockey assist, and his stats suffered because of it.
Yet, for Venezia this campaign, it seems he has adapted his playing style to the physicality and world-class defending of Italy and become a better player because of it.
The creative type of midfielder, he possesses a fantastic passing range and variance, capable of the long ball from deep or the through ball to open up a defence.
His effectiveness in the final third also stands out.
A criticism laid at the door of Mitrovic and the US selectors has been that the squad lacks a creative edge and flair.
Well, luckily, the 22-year-old has these attributes in abundance.
His “pass-first and shoot when needed mentality" could be invaluable in breaking down the French defence on Wednesday.
Match Details
Where is the game being played?
France versus the USA is the first day of the competition and is being played in Marseille, at the Stade Vélodrome.
What time is kick-off?
Kick-off will be at 20:00 (GMT) on Wednesday, July 24.
How can I watch?
For UK viewers, the football at the Olympics will be available to watch on the BBC.
