Colombia.
They were fun to watch in the group stage - rarely has a goalless draw left me thinking, 'Wow, this team could win a World Cup' in the way I did after they held Portugal.
And then they were handed pretty favourable knockout pairings, with Ghana first and a Switzerland team missing Johan Manzambi.
Their last-16 performance was disappointing, and it felt like they could have advanced had they taken a few more risks in regulation.
I'll also miss their fans: the scenes of Argentina v Colombia, two of the best-supported teams in global soccer, in Kansas City would have been incredible.
Many of the African teams – Cape Verde, Senegal, DR Congo, Egypt and Côte d'Ivoire – were fun to watch.
You could make a case for the USA in the hopes that they would have found the form they showed in their first two games.
But Mexico would have been guaranteed to entertain for another round or two.
It sure isn't the United States. I'll say the Netherlands.
They never quite hit top gear and paid dearly for their negative tactics against Morocco, but the tournament feels smaller without their history, color and chaos still in the draw.
Is it gauche to just say any of the co-hosts?
Every tournament admittedly feels a bit different once the home team is sent packing; a group (or three) playing with full stadiums of support is uniquely powerful.
Sigh. The Netherlands.
I never did entirely trust this team, given their weird and very un-Dutch glut of world-class defenders and sparse corps of strikers.
