Metzelder is beaten by Landon Donovan (Allsport).

By Paul Walker, PA Sport, Ulsan

Michael Ballack's first half header was enough to send Germany into the World Cup semi-finals, where they will meet either hosts South Korea or Spain in Seoul on Tuesday.

Germany's English-based based big guns Dietmar Hamann and Christian Ziege were back from suspension, as the Germans were bidding for their 10th World Cup semi-final in their history.

The States, underdogs but determined to put up a brave show, had Fulham's Eddie Lewis and Crystal Palace defender Gregg Berhalter retaining their places.

And they clearly had no intention of doing anything else but fight for their lives, after being told by coach Bruce Arena they were the best USA team ever.

And they went for the German throats. Youngster Landon Donovan caused all sorts of problems as the US showed great confidence going forward.

But the German front men, particularly Oliver Neuville, looked dangerous and had a string of chances, including driving wide from a poor headed clearance and seeing an overhead kick hit Lewis in the face when it was goalbound.

But veteran goalkeeper Oliver Kahn made a hat-trick of first half saves before Michael Ballack headed Germany in front.

Kahn made two excellent saves from Donovan before producing a stunning fingertip plunge to turn a Lewis effort inches wide. It was clear that Germany dare not lose concentration for a second, and they needed a goal to deflate battling opponents.

It came on 38 minutes when Ballack rose above Tony Sanneh to power home a close range header from Bernd Schneider's free-kick.

It could easily have been two minutes later when Klose, who has scored his five previous goals in the tournament with his head, hit the post with a 10-yard header.

The goal only served to inspire even greater USA effort, and Sanneh's brave run and diving header in a move he started and almost finished, summed up their desire.

Another probing Donovan run forced a corner which almost saw the States draw level.

When the flag kick arrived in the box, Berhalter met it with a volley, the ball beat Kahn but was blocked on the line by the arm of Torsten Frings, before Kahn grabbed the ball in a fierce melee.

Donovan continued to test the Germans, and then the States threw on Clint Mathis in place of McBride up front, the Germans responding with a more competitive midfielder in Jeremies to replace Schneider.

But it did not stop the Americans, and captain Claudio Reyna almost struck an equaliser when he met a Kahn clearance on the volley 40 yards out and saw the ball drop inches wide of a post with the goalkeeper beaten.

Another USA striker, Cobi Jones, was next into the fray to replace Frankie Hejduk, before Kehl was booked for a foul on Mathis.

Scottish referee Hugh Dallas then had to sort out a penalty area scrum which eventually saw Neuville and Sunderland midfielder Reyna booked, a minute before Pablo Mastroeni was also cautioned for another foul on Neuville, Berhalter being the next yellow card in a fractious period of an increasingly tense affair.

The States kept going to the last and had Germany pinned back in the closing stages.

And Sanneh saw a header from Reyna's free-kick bounce wide with six minutes left, when he had more time than he thought.

Sanneh had another glorious chance when he headed a Mathis cross into the side-netting in the closing stages - soon after the USA dream was over.

Teams

Germany: Kahn, Linke, Kehl, Metzelder, Frings, Hamann, Ballack, Schneider (Jeremies 60), Ziege, Neuville (Bode 79), Klose (Bierhoff 87).

Subs Not Used: Asamoah, Baumann, Bohme, Butt, Jancker, Lehmann, Ramelow, Rehmer, Ricken.

Booked: Kehl.

Goals: Ballack 39.

USA: Friedel, Sanneh, Mastroeni (Stewart 80), Pope, Berhalter, Hejduk (Jones 65), O'Brien, Reyna, Lewis, Donovan, McBride (Mathis 58).

Subs Not Used: Agoos, Beasley, Cherundolo, Keller, Llamosa, Meola, Moore, Regis, Wolff.

Booked: Lewis, Pope, Reyna, Mastroeni, Berhalter.

Att: 37,337

Ref: H Dallas (Scotland).