Find out which players were selected

The U.S. men’s soccer team will compete in the Olympics for the first time since 2008, with the list of players representing the nation announced Monday morning, less than a month before the Games begin in Paris.

Several rising stars are part of this year’s highly anticipated team, some of which were announced exclusively on NBC’s “TODAY” show. They will compete in Team USA’s first event of the Paris Games, which begins against host France on July 24, two days before the Opening Ceremony.

The U.S. men’s team failed to qualify for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympics but is ready to return to the field after a nearly two-decade hiatus.

The last time they played on an Olympic field, the team finished ninth in the tournament. Argentina won gold in 2008, followed by Nigeria with silver and Brazil with bronze.

The U.S. Team — listed below with clubs and players’ hometowns — will be led by head coach Marko Mitrović.

Goalkeepers:

• Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew; St. Charles, Missouri)
• Gaga Slonina (Chelsea/England; Addison, Illinois)

Defenders:

• Maximilian Dietz (Greuther Fürth/Germany; Frankfurt, Germany)
• Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union; Oldsmar, Fla.)
• Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; Arlington, Massachusetts)
• John Tolkin (New York Red Bulls; Chatham, New Jersey)
• Caleb Wiley (Atlanta United FC; Atlanta)
• Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC; Lawrenceville, Ga.)

Midfielders:

• Gianluca Busio (Venice/Italy; Greensboro, North Carolina)
• Benjamin Cremaschi (Inter Miami CF; Key Biscayne, Florida)
• Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union; Queens, New York)
• Djordje Mihailovic (Colorado Rapids; Jacksonville, Fla.)
• Tanner Tessmann (Venice/Italy; Birmingham, Alabama)

Attackers:

• Paxten Aaronson (FC Utrecht/Netherlands; Medford, New Jersey)
• Taylor Booth (FC Utrecht/Netherlands; Eden, Utah)
• Duncan McGuire (Orlando City SC; Omaha, Nebraska)
• Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg/Germany; South Riding, Virginia)
• Griffin Yow (KVC Westerlo/Belgium; Clifton, Virginia)

Replacements:

• Josh Atencio (Seattle Sounders FC; Bellevue, Washington)
• Jacob Davis (Sporting Kansas City; Rochester, Mich.)
• Johan Gomez (Eintracht Braunschweig/Germany; Keller, Texas)
• John Pulskamp (Sporting Kansas City; Bakersfield, Calif.)

The Olympic men’s soccer team is comprised mostly of players under the age of 23, but teams are allowed to field three “overage” players. Those three players for the United States will be Walker Zimmerman, 31, Miles Robinson, 27, and Djordje Mihailovic, 25.

While Olympic football may not feature every country’s top stars, it does allow young players coming up through the sport to showcase their skills on the international stage and begin to make their case for being named to their country’s first teams, especially if they haven’t featured in them before (a certain Lionel Messi, for example, won gold with Argentina at the 2008 Olympics).

Tanner Tessmann will be a player to watch for American fans. Tessmann, a 22-year-old midfielder, has had a breakout season in Italy’s Serie B and, alongside club and international teammate Gianluca Busio, has helped Venezia return to the Italian top flight.