Vagenas said the win was "surreal."

"I don't think it's sunk in — maybe when we leave to play in the semifinal it might hit me," he said.

After Victorine converted his penalty kick just inside the post to the bloodied Narazaki's left, the entire American squad sprinted onto the field as if it had won the World Cup, tearing off shirts and pumping clenched fists in triumph.

They'd rallied twice, including Vagenas' penalty kick after a dubious call by Zimbabwean referee Felix Onias Tangawarima.

Wolff and Tomoyuki Sakai were vying for the ball when the American striker was barely pushed from behind and appeared to take a dive near the end line as the ball went out of bounds.

Wolff defended the referee's decision.

"I got myself in front, (Sakai) clipped my feet and I was forced down," he said. "It was a good P.K. (penalty kick) to give us a tie and fortunately we won it on penalty kicks."

Japan coach Philippe Troussier said he didn't want to dwell on refereeing decisions.

"We had a lot of chances to score — it's a pity for us," he said. "Today was a very good match for both teams. Good luck to the USA."

Exhausted, and with the bulk of the 18,000-plus crowd at Hindmarsh Stadium cheering on the Japanese, the Americans huddled as Vagenas stepped up for the first U.S. kick in the shootout. The screams of "Nippon, Nippon, Nippon," overwhelmed the "U-S-A, U-S-A" chants as the Japanese fans and flags outnumbered the Americans at least 4-1.

In the shootout, Vagenas, Jeff Agoos and Landon Donovan all scored, while Japan's Shunsuke Nakamura, Junichi Inamoto and Ryuzo Morioka beat goalie Brad Friedel.

Then Hidetoshi Nakata, who plays in Italy for AS Roma, struck the left post with a right-footed kick as Friedel, flat on the ground, punched the air in celebration. The United States had the opening it needed.

Wolff didn't waste it, lifting his shot into the roof of the net. After Japan scored again, Victorine ended it — and began the wild exaltations

For Japan, Atsushi Yanagisawa scored the opener at 30 minutes with an angled header and Naohiro Takahara gave them a 2-1 lead, taking two shots to get around Friedel in the 72nd minute after Wolff had tied the game on 68 minutes.