By Ridge Mahoney in Seoul The relief on the faces of the American players in the aftermath of their 3-1 loss to Poland Friday was mixed with disbelief. Not only had they fallen into the round of 16 by virtue of Portugal's loss to South Korea when a tie would have sent both teams through at their expense, they drew neighbor and nemesis Mexico (Monday, June 17, 2:30 am, live on ESPN and Univision). Superclassico is putting it lightly. Perhaps a new term needs to be coined, the ultimasuperclassico. Traveling more than 5,000 miles to take on your regional rival is just another twist in the mad maze that is the 2002 World Cup. ''Not friendly,'' said midfielder Landon Donovan when asked to describe the rivalry. ''We'll see what kind of statements come out in the next few days. I'm sure it won't be light-hearted.'' In every sense of the term, the knockout round is nigh. For only the second time in the World Cup two CONCACAF teams will meet. In the 1970 World Cup, host Mexico thrashed El Salvador, 4-0, in the first round. For these familiar foes it will be the sixth meeting in the past two years. Never have they met in the World Cup, but in a playoff game played in Italy prior to the 1934 tournament, the U.S. won, then was promptly thrashed, 7-1, by host Italy. The U.S. has won four of the last five meetings, but an overconfident attitude is unlikely. All but one of those games have been decided by a single goal. In the case of their most recent meeting in Denver April 3, Clint Mathis netted the only goal after slyly shoving an opponent to reach the ball he put into the net. ''You can imagine the rivalry there, like Argentina-Brazil,'' said midfielder Cobi Jones, who can be forgiven bit of hyperbole. ''It's going to be a battle. There can't be anything taken for granted because there's going to be a lot of antics going on the field.'' Whatever hangovers of defeat and knocks and bruises suffered from the Polish punch-out will heal rapidly — as they must, since the Americans take the field against Mexico just 53 hours after the loss to Poland ended. Mexico has the benefit of an extra day of rest. ''It's better than waiting seven days after a game like this,'' said midfielder Earnie Stewart as memories of Polish forwards racing free to pound balls into the net began to fade. ''It's better to get it out of your system and go at it as quick as possible because you don't want to dwell on this too long.'' Poland stunned the U.S. with a pair of goals in the first five minutes, then played their preferred counterattacking game to hit back on the break. The U.S. finished with a 17-8 edge in shots but not until it was 3-0 did Donovan tuck away a consolation goal. ''The most difficult for American team is position in attack,'' said Polish coach Jerzy Engel, who changed half of his starters from the squads that had lost to Poland and Portugal without scoring. ''They like to play counterattack. They have fast players advanced and fast players outside. Today we played opposite. We gave them space and we weren't playing the game they like and this is why we were successful.'' The U.S. moved the ball around well in the middle third but its shooting from distance was poor and Poland's massed players swarmed when the ball got within 20 yards of goal. Meanwhile, Brad Friedel staved off Poland nearly single-handedly with some remarkable goalkeeping and saved a penalty kick before Marcin Zewlakov headed home an inevitable third goal. To a man the American players glossed over the Poland debacle as an embarrassing wake-up call not to be repeated. A slow start against Mexico will be disastrous. Mexico topped Group G by beating Ecuador, 2-1, and Croatia, 1-0, and tying Italy, 1-1. The shaky, confused team the U.S. opened the Hexagonal by beating, 2-0, in Columbus 17 months ago has been transformed by Coach Javier Aguirre, who was hired at this time last year. ''They have momentum and they did well in the last World Cup too,'' said defender Tony Sanneh of the 1998 team that reached the quarterfinals. ''They don't back down to anybody and that's one of the things you respect about them.'' To match that accomplishment of reaching the final eight the U.S. must defeat the team it knows better than any other. Mexico and the U.S. have played 46 times, but none of those games will compare to No. 47.