My impression from watching a few US national team games is that the players haven’t generally had much time to play together, and their individual skills/talents are not great, so they generally have to make up for these defects by relying on pure grit to advance. “We try harder” seems to be their motto, except - unlike Avis - they never seem to ever get to be runner-up, let alone the champs. I guess that’s what happens when the nation’s most formidable athletic talents are funneled into other sports.
Definitely a work in progress.