“Maybe some guys were looking at that ranking a little bit too seriously,” a visibly angry Keller said. “It’s a reality check for a few guys and that’s a good thing, this time, that it doesn’t happen June 12.”

For him, the lesson was clear.

“‘We’re not going to walk into the World Cup thinking, ‘Oh, you know, we beat Norway 5-0 and we beat Japan in some games, that now we’re great and we’re untouchable,”’ he said.

Arena originally planned to play three defenders, five midfielders and two forwards but switched his formation when Germany started three forwards.

Gregg Berhalter had a tough night, Cory Gibbs was shifted to left back — a position he normally doesn’t play — and Cherundolo committed the foul that led to the first goal.

Jimmy Conrad played the second-half kickoff back to Kerry Zavagnin, who returned the ball to Conrad, who went it wide to Cherundolo, who sent it out of play. Germany’s throw-in went to Ballack, whose goal beat the United States 1-0 in the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals.

He was fouled by Cherundolo, and Schweinsteiger’s swerving 25-yard free kick bounced past several players and into net on a hop, just past the fingertips of a diving Keller. The goal initially was credited to Klose.

“Just a huge mental mistake,” Arena said. “Giving the game away in the opening kickoff of the second half to me is very foolish.”

Eddie Johnson had a great chance to tie it in the 66th, when he headed Cherundolo’s free kick toward the net, but Kahn dived, stuck out an arm and batted the ball away.

Neuville then got away from Berhalter and beat Keller, his teammate on the German club Borussia Moenchengladbach, after Klose headed the ball down to him. Two minutes later, Berhalter misplayed the ball to Klose, who sent the ball to Neuville. He backheeled the ball to Klose, who came in alone of Keller, got the goalkeeper to go for a fake and slotted the ball in. With no U.S. player within 5 yards, Ballack scored with a header in the 79th off a cross from Klose.

“It was very tough at the start,” Ballack said. “The first goal broke the tension and we played well after that.”

Down 4-0, the Americans got a weird goal when Keller rolled the ball to Cherundolo, who sent the ball up the middle of the field toward Johnson. The ball bounced into net as Johnson and Kahn collided.

Cherundolo, who plays in Germany for Hannover, didn’t see many positives.

“I hope we learned that at this level, you really cannot lose your concentration,” he said. “I think Juergen will maybe sleep better at night now.”

Notes: Arena said the Major League Soccer players, whose seasons haven’t started, “are very unfit for games at this level.” ... Wolff came out in the 17th minute, 14 minutes after he ran into the elbow of Christoph Metzelder while chasing a ball from Johnson. ... Reyna will be sidelined for up to a month because of a shoulder injury sustained last weekend with Manchester City.

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