Uruguay has beaten Brazil and Argentina 2-0 in the past year. There's obviously some issues with US soccer but at the same time that's a team that routinely does a lot with a "little" population
Correct.
Most of the nations that are good in world football don't have anywhere near the people we do. If it was down to population, we'd be up there with China and India by that logic, but it isn't about population so we are not. You have Brazil who is pretty heavily populated and then you have to scroll pretty far down to find Germany.
Uruguay has the infrastructure because they have the tradition and passion for the game. Same goes for Netherlands, Argentina, Spain, etc. They've given a shit about the sport for well over 100 years and don't have baseball, football, hockey competing with it. Air Jordan and the Barcelona Dream Team's impact on global basketball isn't even middle aged yet.
That goof on Fox made a great point last night: the current program in 2024 has more advantages than any of their predecessors and just because you play for a club in Europe doesn't translate to what you do on international breaks. That's just a fact. They had an opportunity to start fresh with a new coach and decided not to do that. The women's team did the complete opposite, knowing they needed a reset, they went out and got one of the best candidates available to them. Meanwhile, for the men, they're out and Canada is playing Venezuela in the knockout. Yes, we all know who Canada's manager is.