Staff Report

The roster of U.S. athletes headed to the Summer Olympics is growing steadily smaller.

A swarming Mexican offense knocked the U.S. team out Tuesday night with a 4-0 victory that ended a string of five appearances for the Americans in the Games.

Playing before a noisy crowd of almost 57,000, Mexico avenged a 2-0 World Cup loss two years ago and joined Costa Rica in the Olympic field.

"The dreams of our team and the dreams of our players of going to the Olympics are now something in the past," U.S. coach Glenn Myernick told the Associated Press. "I'm sure it will hurt even more tomorrow than it does right now."

The Mexicans battered the U.S. defense with waves of attackers who kept slipping free of defenders near the goal. Rafael Marquez Lugo scored twice for Mexico.

"There were too many times tonight when our defenders didn't do a good enough job of slowing the attack down," Myernick said.

Mexico coach Ricardo LaVolpe said he was happy his team regained the accuracy lacking in earlier games against weaker opponents in the under-23 tournament.

"We played without fear," he told the Associated Press. The game was a winner-take-all battle for a berth at the Summer Olympics. It came just over two months after a qualifying tournament victory by Mexico kept the U.S. baseball team out of the Games.

Costa Rica defeated Honduras 2-0 earlier in the evening for the other Olympic slot from the North and Central America and Caribbean region.

The United States had become a soccer nightmare for Mexico in recent years, winning more than it lost against a team that thinks of itself as the region's powerhouse. The greatest dent to Mexico's pride came in the second round of the 2002 World Cup.

Myernick said with the elimination of soccer powers such as Brazil and the Czech Republic, "I think the Olympics in Athens is going to be wide open. ... Mexico has as good a chance as anybody."

LaVolpe, meanwhile, was thinking even further ahead. "I think a lot of these youths can reach 2006," the next World Cup, he told the Associated Press. "These youths showed they have what it takes to battle with anybody." Myernick predicted a wide-open game by two powerful offenses. The United States had scored 10 goals in three tournament games.

But only Mexico managed to produce. Marquez Lugo took a pass from Francisco Rodriguez and put a header past U.S. goalkeeper D.J. Countess at 25 minutes. Three minutes later, Diego Martinez hit the net as a wave of Mexican players rushed toward the U.S. goal.

Countess made several dramatic saves, but Marquez Lugo scored again at 54 minutes from about 15 yards after U.S. defenders were unable to clear the ball from the penalty zone. Ismael Iniguez raced in for a fourth goal just before time ran out.

Mexico, meanwhile, dropped back and clogged the lanes for the U.S. attackers such as Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley, repeatedly blocking passes.

Alecko Eskandarian came close to a U.S. goal in the 79th minute, but his leaping deflection was saved by goalkeeper Jose de Jesus Corona.

Frustrated U.S. defender Nat Borchers was ejected for a second yellow card at 73 minutes.

Six nations have qualified for Athens: Mexico, Costa Rica, Australia, Argentina, Paraguay and host Greece. Information courtesy of the Associated Press and ESPN.