I do not believe that its a talent thing because at least 50% of all U.S. kids grow up playing soccer many of which are extremely talented at the sport and would probably fair very well in a one on one situation with any forriegn player. I believe it has something to do with team comradery, hunger, spirituality or something intangible. For instance, we can place the greatest American baseball, basketball, hocky or soccer players on an all star team and they will very likely get beat by a team from even a small country like Cuba or Lithuania that couldn't possibly have the same amount of talented players to pick from (which by the way, I find very intertaining) . Interstingly though we also get wooped in individualized competitions such as boxing and ameteur wrestling so it cant just be better teamwork and familiarity with peers. I say it has to do with either hunger, faith and spirituality or a combination of these intangibles.