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.

Claudio Reyna and the U.S. team will head home with their heads high.(AP)

They outplayed Germany, the three-time champions, but were beaten 1-0 in the quarterfinals Friday because of one mistake.

Still, 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 our heads held high," U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel said, proud of the Americans' 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 speedy 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 Gregg Berhalter 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 free kick instead.

"I don't want to be a sore loser, but that was a clear handball, and the referee should have given him a red card," Berhalter said.

Michael Ballack reacts after scoring the lone goal of the game.(AP)

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.

The fans gave the Americans a standing ovation, and Reyna held up a U.S. flag, saluting the crowd that was chanting "U-S-A! U-S-A!"

"We have had a great ride," Friedel said. "The satisfying thing is we can go home knowing we could have gone a little further."

It was a stellar showing for an American team expected to struggle just to get out of its first-round group.

Four years ago, it lost all three of its games and finished last in the 32-nation field, sparking ridicule around the world and doubts back home over whether the United States would ever be competitive in the world's most popular sport.

This World Cup started better right away for the Americans. They opened with a 3-2 win over heavily favored Portugal, then tied 1-1 against South Korea - which hasn't lost yet. While they lost 3-1 to Poland, they backed into the second round, then stunned Mexico, which had dominated them for decades until just a few years ago.

But the Americans won't advance to the semifinals for the first time since the first World Cup in 1930. Instead, the Germans will go there for the 10th time -- their first since winning their last championship in 1990.

Germany will play the winner of Saturday's quarterfinal between Spain and South Korea.

"America put a lot of pressure on us," Germany coach Rudi Voeller said, "and we just didn't get the combination play going as I would have liked to."

Before Germany scored, the Americans dominated the three-time champions, outshooting them 5-1. It was quite different from the meeting at the previous Cup.

"If we look over the past four years and think about the opening game in the '98 World Cup, and the performance the U.S. team had against Germany, and where we are today, I think we've made a lot of progress and I'm really proud of our team," Arena said. "We were a little bit unlucky because if we got a break or two either way, we may be in the semifinals of the World Cup."

Germany twice had open headers in the first half but couldn't connect. And four minutes after the Germans took the lead, they nearly got another goal when Miroslav Klose hit the post off a cross from Oliver Neuville.

Donovan had the best U.S. scoring chance in the 17th minute, going around Thomas Linke and sending a low shot that Kahn, one of the world's top goalies, deflected wide with his fingertips.

"When I hit it, I thought it was in," Donovan said. "His hand came out of nowhere."

Kahn stopped Donovan again in the 30th minute, getting his right hand on a shot by the 20-year forward, who was isolated 1-on-1.

"There's no doubt about it that he saved our lives in the first half many times," Voeller said, referring to Kahn.

Neuville had the most artistic shot of the first half, a bicycle kick from the middle of the penalty area -- and it bounced right off the head of Eddie Lewis, who was only a few yards away.

The fast-paced game also featured a lot of physical play, with hard tackles from both teams.

Reyna even got some payback on Jeremies, who kneed him in the back early in the 1998 game.

Jeremies entered as a substitute in the 60th minute, and eight minutes later he and Reyna pushed each other as the Americans prepared to take a free kick near the German goal. Both tumbled and Reyna stomped on Jeremies' left leg as they got up, earning a yellow card.

After the game, the pair exchanged friendly words and pats on the back.

"I think in general we showed we weren't going to take anything from them," Reyna said after the game, a black mark under his left eye.

Notes

• The United States has never won a World Cup game in which it trailed.
• More than 4,000 fans got up at dawn and filled six sections at Washington's RFK Stadium to watch the game on a big screen. The Columbus Crew also opened their stadium at dawn for fans to watch, and they had about 5,000 fans for the 7:30 a.m. ET start.