updated 11:15 a.m. ET June 23, 2006

NUREMBERG, Germany - Heads bowed, American soccer players walked off the field. There was nothing to celebrate.

Three and out. Time to head home.

They said goodbye to the World Cup with a 2-1 loss to Ghana on Thursday, said so long to some of the stars of 2002 and perhaps to coach Bruce Arena, too.

“I got a little choked up,” Brian McBride said after the match, which turned on a disputed penalty kick in first-half injury time.

McBride, captain Claudio Reyna and defender Eddie Pope will never play in the World Cup again. Reyna said Friday he is retiring from international soccer.

Kasey Keller wants to stick around, but the goalkeeper will turn 40 before the 2010 tournament.

Arena, the longest-tenured coach at the tournament, might leave the job he’s held since October 1998. Or the U.S. Soccer Federation might ask him to depart.

Asked whether he’d want to go through another four years, he said: “If you asked me right now, probably not” and then chuckled. He said he had “other opportunities” to check out.

“He didn’t become a bad coach in these three games,” said Sunil Gulati, the new U.S. Soccer Federation president. “He’s had an extraordinary record for us.”

There was plenty of blame to go around.

Tough group. Calls that didn’t go their way. Balls that bounced off the post.

So they didn’t blame themselves all that much.

Four years ago they were heroes when they walked off the field in Ulsan, South Korea following a 1-0 quarterfinal loss to Germany. This time they went 0-2-1, opening with a 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic before a wacky 1-1 tie with Italy in which two Americans and one Italian were ejected.

In soccer nations, a first-round exit would be a disgrace, but in the United States, it will likely be viewed by most as another period of soul-searching, wondering how much longer it will take America to catch up.

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“We knew when the draw came in December ... it was going to be real difficult,” Arena said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of room for error, so there were too many errors to position our team to advance.”

This defeat 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.

After the final whistle, 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.

Early in the tournament, Arena called out his players for their lackluster play. After the Ghana game, he called out German referee Markus Merk.

The referee whistled 32 fouls against Ghana and 16 against the U.S., but only one really mattered.

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“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 5-8 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, Keller dived to his left. Ghana captain Stephen Appiah booted the ball high to the goalkeeper’s right.

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Haminu Draman first put the Black Stars ahead in the 22nd minute. Colliding knee to knee with Reyna, Draman stole the ball and then beat Keller on the breakaway.

Reyna was carried off the field on a stretcher, a knee ligament sprained, though he did return briefly before being replaced near the end of the first half.

Clint Dempsey tied it in the 43rd minute with a 10-yard volley off a cross from DaMarcus Beasley. But Dempsey’s funky dance and the American joy that followed was short lived, crushed by the penalty.

Not everyone wanted to discuss the call. Onyewu ignored reporters, Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic wouldn’t comment and Merk declined to respond, FIFA’s Andreas Werz said Friday.

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They also left with just four shots on goal over three games — the lowest total of any nation at this World Cup. And two of those hit the post, including a diving header by McBride in the 66th minute

Landon Donovan, a startling success when he scored twice in 2002 at age 20, was perhaps the biggest of the U.S. underachievers. He finished the tournament with just one shot, none on net, and showed little enthusiasm for challenging defenders. His streak of scoreless games with the national team stretches back nearly a year.

“He didn’t have one of his better days, that’s for sure,” Arena said.

Hardly anyone did.

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