Mexico knocks the US out of Olympic soccer in qualifier

A swarming Mexican offense knocked the US soccer team out of the Athens Olympics on Tuesday with a 4-0 victory that ended a string of five straight appearances for the US side and gaining revenge for a World Cup loss.

Playing before an thrilled, noisy crowd of almost 57,000, Mexico won 4-0 to qualify for the Olympics by battering the US defense with waves of attackers who kept slipping free of defenders near the goal. Rafael Marquez Lugo scored twice for Mexico.

The game among under-23 squads 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 US baseball team from the Olympics.

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

US Coach Glenn Myernick had predicted a wide-open game by two powerful offenses. The US had scored 10 goals in three games earlier in the tournament. But only Mexico's managed to produce.

Marquez Lugo took a pass from Francisco Rodriguez and tipped a header past US goalkeeper D.J. Countess at 25 minutes. Three minutes later, Diego Martinez hit the net as a wave of Mexican players rushed toward the US goal.

Countess made several dramatic saves, but Marquez Lugo scored again at 54 minutes from about 15 yards out after US 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 US attackers, repeatedly blocking passes.

Alecko Eskandarian came close to a US goal at 79 minutes when it took a leaping tip by Mexican goalkeeper Jose de Jesus Corona to deny him.