Oh, there is no doubt they play soccer in all 4 countries. Too many what we would call "disadvantaged" people for them not to play.
My point was that the 4 biggest economies in the world do NOT have a strong World Cup presence... never have. The World Cup should be called The Third World Cup.
Argue if you want, but those are facts. The strongest presence in the World Cup since it's inception as been from South America with Southern Europe a distant second and then everyone else.
I am quite sure the World Cup set ticket sales records in the US... but there is not but a handful of people who could tell you who actually won that year without looking it up.
That's ok, though. It's over for this year for the US side.. again, they choke away early goals and can't keep Ghana from embarrassing them ~again~. All we have to do is wait about 3 weeks and no one will remember anything about this current competition other than those gawd-awful noise makers.
Then, soccer goes back in the closet for another 4 years and we can get on with the real sports.
But keep that bandwagon warmed up... you never know when you're going to need it again.