ULSAN, South Korea – The United States lost, its great World Cup ride is
over. And yet the Americans felt as if they were winners anyway.
They outplayed Germany, the three-time World Cup champions, but were
beaten 1-0 in the quarterfinals Friday because of one mistake.
Perhaps more importantly, they proved they are no longer the pushovers
of U.S. teams past, sending a message to the rest of the world and
leaving a calling card for 2006 and beyond.
"We can go home with out heads held high," U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel
said after the Americans' fell short to end their best World Cup
performance in 72 years.
They roused fans back home to get up in the middle of the night to watch
their inspired play, and convinced the soccer powers of Europe that
Americans are very good at the kind of football that's played outside
the United States.
"I think we demonstrated to the world that the United States belonged
here," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said. "We expected to be the best team
tonight. We weren't surprised at our performance."
Unlike four years ago, when Germany manhandled the Americans during a
2-0 first-round victory in Paris, the U.S. players shoved back against
their taller, stronger opponents.
The United States dominated for much of the first half and had numerous
scoring chances, with Landon Donovan leading the way. But in the 39th
minute, German midfielder Michael Ballack scored on a header, rising
between two American defenders.
"I thought I was going to be able to head it away," said Tony Sanneh,
assigned to mark Ballack. "I didn't jump high enough or get back enough.
That's why we're going home and they're playing."
German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn twice came up with diving saves in the
first half to deny Donovan, and the Americans nearly tied the score four
minutes into the second half.
A shot by Eddie Lewis bounced off Kahn and hit the left arm of defender
Torsten Frings, who was standing on the goal line. The ball almost
crossed the line before bouncing back to Kahn, who smothered it.
Scottish referee Hugh Dallas didn't call a penalty, awarding Germany a
goal kick.
In the second round, when they beat Mexico 2-0, the Americans got lucky
when John O'Brien wasn't called for punching the ball away in the
penalty area.
"Yeah, those are the breaks," U.S. captain Claudio Reyna said. "But
we're not going to cry like the Mexicans did. That's the game. We had
other chances."
In the second minute of injury time, with only 90 seconds left in the
game, the United States had another great chance, when Sanneh just
missed a goal on a header. He hit the side of the net off a cross from
Clint Mathis, who had entered early in the second half.
Moments later, Mathis' hard shot in the penalty box was blocked by
German midfielder Jens Jeremies.
At the end of the game, half a dozen players from each team collapsed to
the ground, exhausted. Donovan, at 20 a symbol of the new breed of
American soccer, couldn't believe the game was over.
"I didn't want to leave," he said.
