USA 1 - Nigeria 2

The United States ended up in a position where they needed help from Japan in the other Group B game that didn't happen. Instead, the US exited the Olympic soccer tournament with a 2-1 loss to Nigeria and Holland's 1-0 win over Japan.

In a game where the US started at a disadvantage through the yellow card accumulation suspensions of Freddy Adu and Benny Feilhaber, things got worse quickly. The United States went down a man when Michael Orozco was sent off in the third minute and down a goal in the 39th when Promise Isaac scored for Nigeria. They would get a second from Victor Obinna in the 79th before Sasha Klejstan pulled one back from the penalty spot.

“It’s disappointing, there’s no question about that,” Peter Nowak said. “We played so hard tonight, and we can’t express our feelings in the right way now. Soccer can be a cruel game. I am very proud of the effort these players put in. They left everything on the field and never gave up.”

With the US pressing late, they had chances to pull even. Charlie Davies put a shot off the bar. Instead,

Nigeria ended up putting a ball off the crossbar themselves that Brad Guzan had to juggle to keep out. A last gasp freekick for the United States from just outside the area was cleared by Nigeria, who had a chance at an open goal only to pull the shot wide.