SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ Oh, no, not Yugoslavia again.

The water polo team that made the United States settle for silver medals in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics has again left the Americans in hot water after an 8-5 loss _ the United States' second straight _ at the Sydney Games.

The American men, who flew Down Under with confidence and momentum, may find themselves watching others go for the medals they wanted. The United States still must deal with gold-medal favorite Hungary and an improved Greek team to advance out of its six-team pool.

The top four teams advance.

Moving beyond the first round looked certain this summer. Two-meter man Chris Humbert is one of the world's top scorers. Goalie Dan Hackett is considered among the tournament's best keepers.

And American confidence was sky high last month when they won a tune-up against Hungary in Budapest, 9-8.

But the men were outgunned in the opening Olympic loss to Croatia, 10-7, and quickly fell behind the Yugoslavs 4-1.

Hackett let Aleksandar Sapic squeeze in a shot with about two feet between him and a sidepost. The American also gave up a rebound goal to Vladimir Vujasinovic after Humbert had tied things at 1-1.

The United States got to 4-3 on Tony Azevedo's goal off a nice touch pass from Wolf Wigo with 4:28 left before halftime.

Sapic, though, came through again, skipping a shot past Hackett two seconds before the break.

Sapic finished with four goals as Yugoslavia moved to 2-0-0 in Group B. It has outscored opponents 17-6 so far and meets Greece on Monday.

Mistakes kept killing the Americans. They had a 6-on-4 advantage when Sapic and Usokovic were both sent off. But no one would take a shot in the 20-second penalty situation as Yugoslavia packed in its defense.

Things didn't get much better in the second half. When Gavin Arroyo's goal again brought the Americans within one, Danilo Ikodinovic answered for Yugoslavia two minutes later.

Sapic's third goal, with 8.7 seconds remaining in the third quarter, capped it.

Not even U.S. women's coach Guy Baker, sitting in the stands cheering at the Ryde Aquatic Leisure Center, could change the men's fortunes. Baker's team finished with silver Saturday night after a thrilling 4-3 loss to Australia to end the first Olympic women's water polo tournament.

The silver finishes at Los Angeles and Seoul are the last medals for the American men. The only time the United States won water polo gold was at the 1904 St. Louis Games when it was the only country competing.

(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)