How tiny Uruguay dominates Copa América and the World Cup - ESPN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When the U.S. men's national team squares off against Uruguay, in some respects it looks like a mismatch.

The U.S. has 340 million people, with a seemingly endless supply of economic resources. Uruguay has just 3.5 million people and sits between two behemoths of South America, Argentina and Brazil. By population, Uruguay is the second-smallest nation at the Copa América, behind Jamaica. The U.S. is the largest.

Yet when the two teams step on to the turf at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday, it will be Uruguay that is expected to win. The team boasts players at some of the top clubs in the world, including Liverpool forward Darwin Núñez, Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde and Barcelona defender Ronald Araújo.

There is history too: Uruguay has won two World Cup titles to go along with a quartet of fourth-place finishes and 15 Copa América titles.

So how does Uruguay manage to achieve so much with less resources than its rivals?

At its core is the Garra Charrúa. Literally translated, it means the «Claw of the Charrúa» but it refers to the warrior-like spirit from the indigenous Charrúa people, who fought the conquistadors in present-day Uruguay to the bitter end.

«It's like when you don't have that last breath but you always want to give more,» said former Uruguay international Diego Forlan to «These Football Times» back in 2020. «Sometimes, in the last minute, against big teams, you never expect to have the chance to win, but there is that Garra that everyone talks about in Uruguay.»

It's an ethos that is passed down, generation to generation, from the first to the 26th player in the squad, even as the term defies an easy explanation. It's a belief that seeps into every pore, and is felt rather than