USA's Ben Olsen jumps over a Ghana player during their World Cup Group E soccer match in Nuremberg, Germany, Thursday. Ghana bounced the Americans from the tournament with a 2-1 victory.

NUREMBERG, Germany — They were confident. They were hyped. They promised that the world's game had arrived in the United States — and that the world best beware.

Instead of building on their World Cup glory of 2002, much less matching it, the Americans crashed out in the first round just like in 1998, overmatched by superior opponents and their own expectations.

They were unable to take shots, much less score goals. They were outmuscled and outsmarted. And, after a tournament-ending 2-1 loss to Ghana on Thursday that turned on a disputed penalty call, they were reluctant to blame themselves.

"The guys did everything and fought to the end to get a win," U.S. captain Claudio Reyna said after his last World Cup game. "The expectations have changed."

Those expectations were the product of both canny image crafting and the surprise quarterfinals success that had the Americans thinking big.

Thursday's loss was that much more galling because despite frequent sloppy play, the United States would have advanced with a win thanks to Italy's 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic in a game played simultaneously.

Ghana is a country with a fine soccer pedigree, but it is a World Cup newcomer. Now it joins Italy in the tournament's single-elimination second round, its reward a Tuesday match against defending champion Brazil.

After the final whistle, U.S. coach Bruce Arena waved an arm at the officials in disgust and stalked off the field. Instead of congratulating Ghana's coach in plain view, he did it outside the dressing rooms.

After the game, Arena called out German referee Markus Merk.

"I think we'd all agree it wasn't a good call," Arena said of the penalty. "We had control of the game and we go in at halftime down a goal. But those things happen, and they happen a lot to our team."

It happened in first-half injury time, just after a rare flash of offense had let the Americans tie it 1-1.

Defender Oguchi Onyewu, the tallest U.S. player at 6-foot-4, was jostling with 5-foot-8 Razak Pimpong for a header at the edge of the penalty area.

Pimpong fell. Convinced the contact was slight, U.S. players angrily argued the awarding of a penalty kick by one of the world's top-rated officials.

On the shot, goalkeeper Kasey Keller dived to his left. Ghana captain Stephen Appiah booted the ball high to the goalkeeper's right.