. . . "Since then (on the world stage, as we sports hacks put it whenever writing about something America's not good at), the U.S. has been generally less successful than countries such as Cameroon or Uruguay -- nations of 18 million and 4 million people, respectively.[+] EnlargeAP Photo/Paul ThomasAfter a promising start, the U.S. was defeated, as usual, by one of soccer's titans.Which is why it struc" . .