THE USA's charmed World Cup run ended in admirable fashion as the Americans fell to three-time World Cup champion, Germany, 1-0, in Friday's quarterfinal.

Brad Friedel 's US team out fought and created the clearer chances fo the first-half.

But in the 39th minute, Germany scored when Michael Ballack headed in Bernd Schneider's bending free kick for the goal.

Ballack had squeezed between Tony Sanneh and Gregg Berhalter to get his head on the ball.

The USA had a strong attack up to the very end, with Sanneh putting a header inches wide in the 88th minute.

They certainly had their chances to score and was especially unlucky in the 49th minute.

On a Claudio Reyna corner kick, Gregg Berhalter took a shot which went off goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.

Germany's Torsten Frings stopped the ball from going over the goal line with his left hand and play went on, without a penalty called.

In its 10th trip to the semifinals, Germany will meet the winner of Saturday's South Korea-Spain game on Tuesday.

USA coach Bruce Arena once again shuffled his line-up using a 3-5-2 formation.

In the midfield, Frankie Hedjuk, usually a defender, started on the right side.

Claudio Reyna, John O'Brien and Pablo Mastreoni packed the center of the midfield and Eddie Lewis started on the left side.

Arena had said before the game that all the pressure was on the three-time World Cup champs, and none was on his side.

The American team will now head home with pride.

No USA. team has advanced this far since 1930, the inaugural tournament when there were only 13 teams.

They have brought new awareness to their sport following wins over Portugal and Mexico, two victories that will be regarded among their finest.

Plus they have erased the memory and disappointment of finishing last in France at the 1998 World Cup.

"I think the legacy of this team, without sounding too corny about it, is the legacy of anything's possible," said Sunil Gulati, the U.S. Soccer executive vice president.

"And in general, Americans believe that."