BEIJING — An early slip-up against Nigeria left the United States playing a desperate game of catch-up that ultimately failed and resulted in its elimination from the Beijing Olympics.

The Americans, forced to play with 10 men from the third minute, lost 2-1 to Nigeria yesterday after coming close to scoring the equalizing goal in the frantic, final minutes that would have put them through to the quarterfinals.

Despite getting off to its best Olympic start after opening with a win over Japan and a draw with the Netherlands, the U.S. team finished third in Group B.

“Everyone was disappointed, but we came into this game with the right mentality. But it was just too difficult and we had some tough luck,” U.S. striker Brian McBride said.

The injury-time equalizer that the Americans conceded against the Dutch in the previous game proved too costly.

“We were very close three days ago to putting our stamp on international soccer,” U.S. coach Peter Nowak said. “Even tonight we were very close again, even we play with 10 men, we never give up. We still play good soccer.”

Substitute Benny Feilhaber headed onto the post two minutes after Sacha Kljestan had converted a penalty in the 88th minute.

But Michael Orozco’s third-minute ejection provided Nigeria with an early lift and its attacking lineup took an advantage that it nearly squandered. Promise Isaac scored in the 39th with an easy tap-in off Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi’s centering pass and Victor Obinna curled a right-footed shot into the top of goal in the 80th.

The Americans at least won over the local fans for the closing moments.

“The last five minutes with the 50-60,000 chanting ‘U-S-A,’ it was quite a feeling about what it means to be in these tournaments,” Nowak said.