Germany made it through to the World Cup semi-finals thanks to a Michael Ballack first-half header.

Germany will now meet either hosts South Korea or Spain in Seoul on Tuesday for their 10th World Cup semi-final.

The States may have been underdogs but they put up a brave show, and fought Rudi Voller's team all the way.

Coach Bruce Arena told his players 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.

The goal 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 effort from Arena's men, 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.

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.