STAR-SPANGLED FALL; GERMANY TEACHES U.S. A LESSON : GERMANY 2, UNITED STATES 0.

Byline: Michelle Kaufman Miami Herald

They showed up at Parc des Princes Stadium late Monday afternoon in Uncle Sam hats and red-white-and-blue clothing. Some even painted their faces and wrapped their bodies in giant American flags. The U.S. fans - about 5,000 in all - wanted so desperately to prove that they belonged at the World Cup, where fans from other countries think nothing of wearing fuzzy orange bird suits, windmills on their heads and kilts.

But once the match between United States and Germany began, the inexperienced American fans were drowned out by a sea of at least 25,000 Germans, who brought along several hundred banners and an extensive repertoire of clever ditties. The best the U.S. fans came up with was ``U-S-A! U-S-A!''

It was a similar story on the field, where a bunch of gritty U.S. players were determined to prove they could hang with the Germans but found out they couldn't. At least not for 90 minutes.

Team USA played nervously much of the first half, had trouble stringing together three passes, got beaten on most headers, made ill-advised long kicks out of bounds and lost 2-0 to a German team that clearly was faster, more organized and more experienced.

U.S. midfielder Tab Ramos, who spent the first 69 minutes on the bench, was highly critical of the team's performance.

``I felt we had gone backwards, like we looked more like our '90 team than our '94 team, and that's unacceptable,'' Ramos said. ``I don't think what we saw out there was a step forward for U.S. soccer. I'm a little angry, if you can't tell.''

And he wasn't finished.

``The impression we left is that we were a team hoping not to have a lot of goals scored on us, and that's not what we came here for. We're not here to win the World Cup, because we know that's not going to happen, but we're here to show we've improved, and I don't think we did a good job of that.''

Other players weren't quite so blunt, but they admitted they haven't reached Germany's league.

``There still is a gap there,'' U.S. captain Thomas Dooley said. ``It isn't as big a gap as in '94, we've gotten closer, but we're not there yet.''

Goalie Kasey Keller added: ``You're playing the European champions in Europe in the World Cup. You'd be naive to think you're going to take it to 'em and beat 'em 3-nil. But we did learn a lesson. I think we had a little too much respect for them at first and that hurt us.''

Eight German starters were 30 or over, compared to one for the United States. Five of the most familiar faces in U.S. soccer - Alexi Lalas, Marcelo Balboa, Tab Ramos, Roy Wegerle and Jeff Agoos - began the match on the bench.

Ramos, Wegerle and speedster Frankie Hejduk came in as second-half substitutes and injected life and discipline to the U.S. attack. Cobi Jones' dreadlocks were flapping the whole game as he raced up and down the field, often sneaking behind the defense. But none of that was enough.

Germany took the lead in the ninth minute when Jurgen Klinsmann, sandwiched between defenders David Regis and Eddie Pope, managed to outjump them and head Olaf Thon's corner kick to Andy Moeller, who knocked it past Dooley, under Mike Burns' armpit, and into the net. Keller made a futile dive as the German fans went wild.

Klinsmann, playing his 103rd international match, hurt the United States again in the 64th minute. German midfielder Jens Jeremies blocked Regis' clearing, and the ball bounced to Oliver Bierhoff, who crossed it to Klinsmann. Dooley jumped toward Klinsmann, overran him, and Klinsmann calmly collected the ball and put a perfect finish on the shot from about 10 yards out.

The only dangerous U.S. scoring chance came in the 50th minute, when Eric Wynalda sent the ball to Regis, who fed Hejduk a perfect pass in the air, and Hejduk headed it toward the left post. Goalie Andreas Kopke made a great save.

Sampson admitted his team played ``a little tentative'' at the start, and that Moeller's early goal seemed to make some of the U.S. players more conservative than he would have liked.

``That goal put us on our heels a bit and we weren't able to attack,'' Sampson said. ``If we had gone 10 to 15 minutes without giving up a goal, I think you would have seen us play with a lot more confidence.''

Another problem was that the German defense - particularly Jeremies - took U.S. playmaker Claudio Reyna out of the match. Reyna looked nothing like the creative midfielder who orchestrated a 3-0 win over Austria in April.

``Jeremies did an excellent job of marking Claudio,'' Sampson said. ``But he wasn't quite as dominant in the second half, and Claudio's confidence will be even better in the next match.''

The loss puts the United States in last place in its group, behind Germany, Yugoslavia and Iran. Yugoslavia beat Iran 1-0 on Sunday, so Iran is ahead of the United States in goal differential. Only two teams advance to the second round, which means for the U.S. team to have a chance, it probably needs to beat Iran on Sunday in Lyon.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) U.S. goalie Kasey Keller looks down dejectedly after allowing Germany its second score.

Elise Amendola/Associated Press

(2--Color) Andreas Moeller scores the first goal for Germany amid U.S. players (from left) Cobi Jones, Thomas Dooley, Kasey Keller and Claudio Reyna.

Remy de la Mouviniere/Associated Press