SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ The U.S. men's soccer team made up some ground on the established powers during the Olympic tournament. But when it came to moving into the gold medal match, the old guard proved it still rules.

After advancing through the tournament to an unprecedented and unexpected semifinal, the Americans got a reality check Tuesday in a 3-1 loss to Spain.

Spanish coach Inaki Saez Ruiz had some consolatory words of encouragement, saying he thought the United States improved immensely. But he said he knew the Spanish were going to be too good in the semis.

"I think the USA will continue to progress, they have the population and undoubtedly they will improve in soccer," he said.

U.S. men's coach Clive Charles said his under-23s closed the gap on the so-called superpowers of Europe and South America.

"I'm not going to talk about a gap. The gap is closed, there is no gap," Charles said.

But the Spanish showed too much flair in the opening 25 minutes, with forward Jose Mari Romero setting up two goals.

The Americans reduced the margin to 2-1 just before halftime on Pete Vagenas' penalty kick, but Jose Mari was at his brilliant best in getting the clincher in the 87th minute.

He swooped in on a rebound after U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel made a diving fingertips save on Raul Tamudo, and sealed the result for Spain.

The striker celebrated with an impersonation of an airplane coming into land, diving chest first, arms spread-eagle as he slid across the slippery surface.

Charles said he was disappointed with the result, but he couldn't be disappointed with the team.

"They've been fabulous," Charles said after Spain, the 1992 Barcelona gold medalists, advanced to a gold medal game against Cameroon, a 2-1 winner against Chile in the other semifinal in Melbourne.

Charles said last Saturday's dramatic quarterfinal win against Japan, when the United States took a 5-4 shootout after two periods of sudden-death overtime failed to break a 2-2 deadlock, had taken a physical and mental toll.

"We just never got out of the starting blocks," Charles said. "We were just a yard off the pace. We tried to play through them, but our final ball was never really there, our first touch was never really there."

He said it was critical now for the Americans to focus on a bronze medal match Friday against Chile.

The semifinal "is gone. We've done too well to dwell on the negatives. We're preparing ourselves now to play for a bronze medal."

After advancing atop Group C with ties against the Czech Republic and Cameroon and a win against Kuwait, the U.S. Olympic roster shaped up as a serious medal contender when Italy, Brazil and Nigeria were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Considered the perennial underachievers going into the tournament, the U.S. men said they were playing for respect. They were also coming out of the shadow of the U.S. women's team, the defending World Cup and Olympic champions.

Defensive midfielder John O'Brien, who plays for Ajax in the Netherlands, said the odds on the women gaining gold were a lot higher than for the men to grab a bronze.

"We traveled to Sydney for two games, it could have been the gold medal game or the bronze medal game," he said. "So we maybe were not completely focused for this game. We did come out a bit sluggish."

After falling behind 2-0, the U.S. men's now trademark comeback skills deserted them in the rain before more than 35,000 spectators.

Vagenas, who also nailed vital penalty kicks against Cameroon in the preliminaries and Japan in the quarterfinals to keep the Americans alive, had no difficulty with his first-alf penalty. Frankie Hejduk was knocked down by Miguel Angulo inside the area in the 41st minute, and Vagenas converted to again give his teammates hope.

The Americans came on after a double substitution in the 39th minute, when Landon Donovan and Sasha Victorine came in.

But the Spanish were too skilled and, after a brief lull following halftime, hit full speed.

Spain opened the scoring in the 16th minute after a fast-breaking counterattack by Jose Mari. He beat U.S. defender Danny Califf on a 40-yard run on the right wing and sent a cross into the box, where Tamudo threaded the ball between the left post and a diving Friedel.

Mari also created the second goal as the Spanish doubled their lead, seizing on a loose ball as American defenders slipped on the edge of the goal box and taking ball on his chest. Then he outmaneuvered Califf, playing a ball through for Angulo, who drove a shot to the right of Friedel as he was brought down.

Cameroon 2, Chile 1=

At Melbourne, Lauren lifted Cameroon on a penalty kick two minutes from the end of regulation time. The Indomitable Lions rallied from a goal down, scoring twice in the final seven minutes.

After Chile went ahead on an own goal by Patrice Abanda in the 78th minute, Patrick Nboma tied it in the 83rd. Lauren then drove home the decisive penalty kick after Chile defender Pablo Contreras knocked downed Nboma in the penalty area.

It was another dramatic triumph for the Africans, who beat Brazil 2-1 in extra time of the quarterfinals while playing with just nine men.

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