The numbing semifinal loss to Germany ended the US women's impressive World Cup run. There's still a game to play, but it's not the one they had hoped for.

　　L face Canada on Saturday in Carson, California, for third place. Germany and Sweden play in the title game on Sunday.

　　A championship would have been the United States' third in the four World Cups. It would have meant most to Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly and Joy Fawcett. They have played in all four World Cups since the inaugural event in 1991.

　　This is the last one they will play together. Hamm and Fawcett have both said they plan to retire after the Olym-pics in Athens next year.

　　"It's been a great journey, every step of the way," said coach April Heinrichs, who was the captain of the US team that won the World Cup title that first year.

　　Heinrichs gave the team off on Monday after the 3-0 loss to Germany, just the second in World Cup play for the United States.

　　"It's difficult when you lose, and it's difficult to get yourself together for another game," Heinrichs said. "We'll take a few days off, and spend some time together."

　　The last time the Ameri-cans lost in World Cup com-petition was in 1995, when they were defeated 1-0 by Norway in the semifinals. Norway went on to win the title with a 2-0 victory over Germany, while the Ameri-cans claimed third place with a 2-0 win over China.

　　Hamm, who set up shot after shot in Sunday's loss only to see her teammates thwarted by the Germans in front of the goal, burstsintostears at the game's end. Later she smiled as she spoke glowingly of her teammates.

　　"I wouldn't change this team for any other team in the tournament. I wouldn't do it," she said. "It's an amazing group of athletes that became and even more amazing group of people."

　　The fans cared about them, too.

　　The us women became international celebrities in 1999, when they drama-tically beat China on penalty kicks to claim the title on home soil at the Rose Bowl. Afterward, images of defen-der Brandi Chastain - in a celebratory pose without her jersey, wearing a black sports bra - were splashed across newspapers worldwide.

　　The possibility of a repeat put the spotlight back on the Americans this year, parti-cularly after the tournament was moved from China because of fears over the SARS outbreak.

　　But there would be no celebrations on Sunday night. Chastain, who broke her foot in the opening match against Sweden, instead took the field to console her teammates.

　　"It was a hard loss because of the way it went down," goalkeeper Briana Scurry said. "They were bending and bending, but they didn't break."

　　Sweden beat Canada 2-1 to advance to the final.