Germany outscored the Americans 4-2 in the opening quarter then relied on the goalkeeping of Alexander Tchigir to advance to the quarterfinals against 2004 Olympic champions Hungary.

In other second-round matches Monday, Greece edged Romania 8-7, Russia defeated Canada 17-13 and Italy beat Australia 12-11 in overtime. The results left defending champions Serbia playing Greece in Wednesday's quarterfinals, with Croatia playing Russia and Spain taking on Italy elsewhere in the final eight.

Italy got a last-second goal from Murizio Felugo, thrown from more than halfway across the pool, to beat Australia in the overtime period. The long-range shot surprised goaltender James Stanton, who let it slip through his fingers and into the goal.

While the Italian team celebrated, Stanton slowly sunk underwater for what seemed like a minute, embarrassed by his costly error. If the shot had been blocked, the game would have gone to a penalty shootout.

Andreas Schlotterbeck was involved in a fight with U.S. player Jesse Smith during the third quarter.

''Water polo is a tough sport,'' Schlotterbeck said. ''He hit me in the head but the referee saw it differently. He basically hit me right in the face ... I had to get out of the water because I hurt my eye in the fight.''

German head coach Hagen Stamm said the physical game proved his team's character. Shortly afterward, Schlotterbeck scored the only goal of the third quarter for a 6-2 lead.

''The Americans tried to provoke us in the end by playing physical,'' Stamm said. ''Schlotterbeck gave the right answer. He let himself get hit and then scored the goal.''

The game was a playoff involving second- and third-place teams from the round-robin, in which the U.S. finished second in Group B with a 2-1 record. The Americans now are headed to the relegation round.

Tchigir blocked 16 of 19 U.S. shots, including a 5-meter penalty attempt by leading American goal scorer Tony Azevedo.

''Our counterattack was horrible, we just couldn't put it away and their goalie was amazing,'' U.S. player Jeffrey Powers said. ''I guess we had pretty good defense since they only scored six goals, but we just couldn't get it in the cage.''

Azevedo had nine shots on goal but failed to score.