Then France imploded, Italy could not even win a match, Germany and Spain suffered early group losses, South American teams swept into the knockout round and, yes, outsiders still whined about the vuvuzelas.
Meanwhile, the Yanks, fully expected to move out of Group C, hung on the brink the whole time, lucky to tie England and spotting tiny Slovenia two goals. (Yes, that call was bad, welcome to the rest of the world, everyone's had something like that in the past.)
Only at the very end did the U.S...
