How tiny Uruguay became a soccer giant

Uruguay, population 3.4 million, has won more Copa América titles than Brazil and more World Cups than England. It is once again among men's international soccer's top 10 teams. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)Its population is less than Connecticut’s. Its GDP is smaller than Delaware’s. It is roughly the same size as Cambodia or Suriname. Its people have never won a Nobel Prize, nor an individual Olympic gold medal. So, I asked some natives recently: How? Why? What makes Uruguay so good at soccer?

Diego Rossi and Nicolás Lodeiro both anchored their answer in the very first gift they ever received, the same one thousands of Uruguayan kids unwrap each year: a ball.

Rossi is from the capital,…