USA men looking to avoid early Olympic exit vs. New Zealand - ESPN

MARSEILLE, France — The United States men's soccer team earned respect despite losing to France3-0 in its opening game at the Paris Olympics. Now it needs points.

The U.S. faces New Zealand in Marseille on Saturday knowing another loss likely would end its chance of advancing to the quarterfinals before its final group-stage game is played.

«We're not going to give up no matter what the situation is. You know, just one loss, shake it off and go to the next one,» defender Nathan Harriel told The Associated Press on Friday.

New Zealand's 2-1 victory over Guinea has put it in a strong position to advance from Group A. It is second behind France on goal difference.

The U.S. is at the bottom of the group after conceding three second-half goals against France — but for a long period held its own against the host nation.

Had Djordje Mihailovic's second-half shot found the top corner, rather than the crossbar, when the game was still goalless, the Americans might have been on course for an upset.

Instead, goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Michael Olise and Loïc Badé sealed a victory for the French, whose coach, Thierry Henry, admitted were pushed hard by the Americans.

«The game plan of the coach was excellent,» he said.

While that was a compliment to Marko Mitrovic, the U.S. coach still has the task of getting his team back on track ahead of Saturday's critical game.

«It's always nice to hear from colleagues that certain things that we wanted to do caused them certain problems,» Mitrovic said. «We play the game, we give everything, we learn and we move forward.

»We are now two days after the game and no matter what was the score or outcome for certain games, there is a moment where we have to stop thinking about that and just