there were so many great matchups in this tourney that its a damn shame that all we can talk about is the refs. the semi finals and finals were excellently called by the officials. they let the players decide the game, and for the most part kept themselves out of it.
i agree with scott, one of the best games in the whole tourney was brazil-ghana. ghana was the better team, but theres just no escaping the majesty of brazil. give them a half a chance, and bam, youre down 2 nil. the americans played inspired soccer against italy, didnt even show up for the game against the czech republic, and got the worst end of a bunch of marginal calls against ghana. that being said, arena is gone. my sleeper pick for new us coach, bob bradley. my "really want this guy to come coach us" pick, jurgen klinsmann. either way, i was rooting for italy throughout the knockout rounds, and it was nice to see them finally get over on a pk shootout. cannavaro is the man of the tourney, in my mind.