PARIS, France — The U.S. Men's National Team is in action Saturday against New Zealand at the Paris Olympics, and a metro Atlanta native made his mark on the affair.
It's not necessarily his role as a defender to score goals, but Walker Zimmerman did just that to give the U.S. a 2-0 lead (the U.S. later made it 3-0 with only 30 minutes of the game gone by).
Take a look at the video below, posted by the NBC Olympics & Paralympics account, of Zimmerman's moment that got him on the scoresheet.
The 12th-minute goal came off a free kick, with Djordje Mihailovic's sloping, diving effort first bouncing off two other Americans, then the New Zealand keeper (a bit blocked out by his own defender's awkward positioning) before Zimmerman - a Brookwood High alum - pounced in front and jutted it in with his right foot.
Mihailovic scored the USMNT's first goal Saturday on a penalty, and Gianluca Busio made it 3-0 at the half hour mark.
The Americans are showing they can bounce back with their high-flying performance against New Zealand, after they lost to France in their opener 3-0.
The 31-year-old Zimmerman is something of the elder statesman of the team -- Olympic men's soccer rosters are largely limited to under-23 players, but each team is allowed three overage players, and the Nashville SC defender was chosen as one for the U.S.
If the U.S. close out New Zealand and then beat Guinea, they'll still finish among the top two in their group to advance to the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament.
