No gold for U.S. after loss to Spain

SYDNEY — The dream run is over for the U.S. men's soccer team.

The Americans took their first loss of the Olympic tournament 3-1 to Spain in Tuesday's semifinal at the Sydney Football Stadium to tumble out of gold medal contention.

The win sent Spain, gold medalists at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, into the final Saturday against Cameroon, a 2-1 winner over Chile in the other semifinal in Melbourne.

The U.S. men, who carried the tag of perennial underachievers into the tournament, will play for bronze Friday night against Chile.

Midfielder Jose Mari Romero had two assists in the first half and scored the clincher in the 87th minute, swooping in on a rebound after U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel made a diving fingertips save on Raul Tamudo.

Jose Mari celebrated with an impersonation of an airplane coming into land, diving chest first, arms spread-eagle as he slid across the slippery surface.

After making the second round of an Olympic tournament for the first time, the U.S. under-23 team emerged as medal contenders and threatened as a new force on the international scene.

But after falling behind 2-0 after 25 minutes, their trademark comeback skills deserted them in the rain before more than 35,000 spectators.

Spain led 2-1 at the break, Pete Vagenas scoring just before halftime with a penalty kick.

Josh Wolff had the only U.S. shot on goal in the second period with a free kick after 63 minutes. But he fired a shot over the net from 28 yards.

Vagenas, who also nailed vital penalty kicks against Cameroon in the preliminaries and Japan in the quarterfinals to keep the Americans alive, had no difficulty with this one, either. Frankie Hejduk was knocked down by Miguel Angulo inside the area in the 41st minute, and Vagenas converted.

Friedel made a diving save a minute before halftime, sliding into a shot from Angulo from inside the goal area. The save brought the crowd alive.

The Americans came on after a double substitution in the 39th minute, when Landon Donovan and Sasha Victorine came in.

But the Spanish were too skilled and, after a brief lull after halftime, hit full speed.