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US Soccer announces U-23 Olympic playoff dates and venue vs. Colombia

Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images

The United States under-23 national team take on Colombia in an all-important home-and-away playoff series in March to see which nation will earn a spot in the 2016 Summer Olympics. U.S. Soccer announced today that they'll be the hosts of the vital second leg of the playoff series and that it will be played on Tuesday, March 29 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

The match will be broadcast on ESPN2 right after the senior team's World Cup Qualifier against Guatemala.

The first leg of the home-and-away series will be on Friday, March 25 in Barranquilla, Colombia, at 3:30 p.m. CT. with TV info not yet known.

While it wasn't announced, one has to assume that the series will enforce the away goals tiebreaker rule with the match being played under FIFA rules. Which in theory would theoretically give the U.S. the advantage playing at home last.

With the senior USMNT side and the U-23 team both playing at the same time, important roster decisions about which players join which team will have to be made. Senior team players like DeAndre Yedlin, John Anthony Brooks, and Jordan Morris are all eligible for the U-23's. This playoff is crucial in the long term and Klinsmann could decide to sacrifice those players in order to help them qualify for the Olympics.