ANALYSIS: CAMPAIGN ENDS DISAPPOINTINGLY FROM OUTSET, U.S. HOPES DOOMED.

Byline: SCOTT FRENCH Staff Writer

NUREMBERG, Germany -- The United States' World Cup journey began with Jan Koller's header at the start of the Czech debacle and closed with Markus Merk's folly in the U.S. box as halftime neared against Ghana. The Americans were behind from the start, suffered at nearly every pivotal moment, could never hope to catch up.

It was a disappointing campaign, brought to an end with Thursday's 2-1 loss here to Ghana in a Group E finale that reminded how wide is the gap separating the U.S. from the world's elite.

The reasons are the same, and culture is part of it. This country of almost 300 million has produced maybe one world-class field player -- non-goalkeeper. Amsterdam, a city of 730,000, has produced dozens.

Players that do emerge, such as Landon Donovan, are ill-served by Major League Soccer's inability to create the conditions or standards elite players compete in daily in Europe's premier leagues.

The Americans weren't horrible in Germany, the opener aside, and their failure to qualify for the round of 16 isn't failure. Better teams than the U.S. -- the Czechs, Ivory Coast, South Korea -- also are heading home before the knockout phase begins.

Last December's draw was brutal, and real success was going to have more to do with the U.S. performance than with results. The performance, for the most part, was dissatisfying. The Americans were timid, afraid to take chances, incapable of finishing chances and lacking the skill or vision or instinct to create chances.

Subpar showings against the Czech Republic, June 12 opener in Gelsenkirchen, and in the second half against Ghana were offset somewhat by an at-turns dominant and heroic performance in the 1-1 draw with Italy a week ago in Kaiserslautern. That result put the Yanks in position to reach the second round -- a win and an Italy victory over the Czechs would do it.

The Italians did their part, but the U.S. was derailed by Merk's horrid penalty-kick decision, but more so by the struggle to finish.

Once captain Claudio Reyna, the one world-class U.S. talent -- and the best American in the tournament, by a long stretch -- exited with a knee injury just before halftime, it was more or less over.

Donovan, of whom there were fantastic expectations to lead a vibrant U.S. attack, concluded a poor tournament with his worst performance.

He seemed unwilling to attack the Ghanaian defense, unable to devise anything remotely dangerous.

Far worse was DaMarcus Beasley, like Donovan one of the heroes of the 2002 quarterfinal run. Beasley used to torture defenses with runs from the left flank; he offered little this Cup, but did provide the feed for Clint Dempsey's goal against Ghana.

Reyna, who announced his retirement from international competition Friday, Dempsey and defender Oguchi Onyewi fared best, and others -- including former UCLA stars Jimmy Conrad and Carlos Bocanegra -- had decent showings. But of the players who had to be atop their games for the U.S. to succeed, only Reyna and goalkeeper Kasey Keller came through.

The U.S. never seemed to fully recover from Merk's decision. The German referee destroyed U.S. momentum gained on Dempsey's equalizer four minutes earlier by calling a penalty on Onyewu nearly two minutes into stoppage time.

But that, nor the red cards to Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope in the Italy game, both defensible, led to the U.S. elimination. Neither did Koller's goal five minutes into the first game. It was their inability to overcome such setbacks that cost dearly.

``A real good team overcomes all those circumstances,'' said coach Bruce Arena, who has intimated he'll likely step down. ``So, out of this World Cup, could we say we're a real good team? No, we weren't good enough.''