Well, I've learned a lot from this post. I'll admit suggesting that the EU play as a single team was a strawman argument that no one would truly advocate for. The vitriolic responses just crystallizes how much more interesting the competition could be in the US if there were more teams allowed. It does make me glad that, for all the faults and divisiveness of the United States, that we are lucky to not be dominated by the same strain of haughty provincialism that so overwhelms the EU (and led to Brexit). I'd point out that many of the architects of the EU have (had?) an end goal closer to the United States than many of the posters here realize, but again, that is really beyond the scope of this post.

Anyway, thanks for the replies. It sounds like England basically has its own team because of tradition. That's fine. Have a good day.

PS Most sports are glorified random number generators, but soccer seems worse than most. Any thoughts on this? :)