AU REVOIR TO THE AMERICANS; U.S. ENDS THREE-AND-OUT RUN WITH EVEN MORE MISSED CHANCES : YUGOSLAVIA 1, U.S. 0.

Byline: Scott French Long Beach Press-Telegram 

The World Cup ended much as it began for the United States, which on Thursday night surrendered another early goal en route to another shutout loss, a perfect finish to a fortnight the Americans would just as soon forget.

It was three and out for the Yanks, who arrived in France believing they were capable of great things and depart bedeviled, bewildered and ever so thankful the humiliation is over.

Yugoslavia's 1-0 triumph at Stade de La Beaujoire leaves the Americans 31st of the 32 teams in the tournament, one of four without a point and the other three still have a game to play, two of them against each other. The U.S. is riding a five-game World Cup losing streak that might never end unless they can figure out a way to put the ball between the posts.

They came close, legitimately close, just once Thursday, in the opening seconds when Frankie Hejduk lofted a ball from the right wing that soared over goalkeeper Ivica Kralj and off the left post. Aside from that, a couple half-chances, a few penetrations into the box, but score a goal? Impossible.

``Our one failure over the three games has been our inability to put the ball in the back of the net,'' acknowledged Steve Sampson, whose team tallied just once in three Group F games after scoring only two goals in its final three preparation matches.

``This lack of precision in front of the goal is something we must improve upon as a national team if we expect to get any kind of results in the future.''

The brightest spot for the United States, again, was the defense, which overcame the loss of Eddie Pope to a back injury to limit the Yugoslavs to perhaps a half dozen decent opportunities. Neither Germany nor Iran created much against the U.S. defense, either, so if there is a positive to be taken from France, that is it.

Yugoslavia, which finished second to the Germans in the group and will face the Netherlands in a second-round match Monday in Toulouse, needed only one chance and it came right away.

A seemingly innocuous bit of contact involving Mike Burns, back on the field after an abysmal showing against Germany, gave the Yugos a free kick just 26 yards from the target, well in dead-ball specialist Sinisa Mihajlovic's range.

Mihajlovic's curling blast to the right side was parried away by goalkeeper Brad Friedel, but Slobodan Komljenovic was anchored just to the right of the goal, and the ball ricocheted from Friedel's hands to his head and into the net, as unfortunate a set of circumstances the Americans could imagine.

That was basically that, as neither team showed much flair, at least not going to goal. There was some brilliant stuff in midfield, most of it by the Yugoslavs, especially midfielder Vladmir Jugovic and forward Perica Ognjenovic, who came on in the 31st minute after Predrag Mijatovic aggravated a knee injury.

The game was played primarily in midfield, with the Americans getting off only three shots that tested Kralj, two of them by Brian McBride a header in the 15th minute and a deflected drive in the 80th.

The U.S. players, who have been frustrated by various things, primarily the failure on the field, expressed relief the tournament finally was over, but Sampson, an eternal optimist perhaps, continued to claim that Americans' showing constituted success.

``I think we've proved,'' he said after praising Yugoslavia's abilities, ``that we can play very good soccer against very good teams.

``I'm going to remember the quality of football at times that we played. I will remember the numerous chances against Iran. And, of course, I will remember the numerous missed chances.''

U.S. vs. THE WORLD

The U.S. team's performance in France was one of the worst in their World Cup history.

Year Goal differential

1930 7-6

1934 1-7

1950 4-8

1990 2-8

1994 3-4

1998 1-5

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

PHOTO (1--Color) U.S. players Ernie Stewart, right, and Claudio Reyna have no where to hide after their team's 3-0 loss.

(2) Claudio Reyna reacts to a yellow card issued by referee Gamal Ghandour during Thursday's loss.

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

BOX: U.S. vs. THE WORLD (see text)