Love the Smell of Korea in the Morning

June 5^th, 2002, Suwon, South Korea:  The USA beats Portugal 3-2.  The Portuguese come into the tournament a team ranked 4^th in the world and lead by perhaps the second best European player of his generation (behind only Zinadine Zidane), Luis Figo.  On the strength of three first-half goals, the United States has literally shocked the soccer world into noticing the vast improvement over the 1998 France World Cup - the US finished 32^nd, dead last. 

June 17^th, 2002, Jeonju, South Korea: USA has defeated nemesis Mexico 2-0 in the round of sixteen, completely outclassing their southern neighbors throughout the match.  This one seemed too good to be true; knocking the old "enemy" out of the World Cup...ahhh, the good stuff.  

June 21^st, 2002, Ulsan, South Korea:  Germany narrowly defeats the US 1-0 in the quarterfinals despite the American dominance throughout the match.  Oliver Kahn, the German goalie, later named tournament MVP, earned the aforementioned accolade in good part due to his performance in this match.  There was some controversy: the only time the US managed to beat Kahn, he literally got a hand from midfielder Torsten Frings who parried an American shot off the goal line to preserve the German victory.  In his post match comments, German manager Rudi V