“naive” to describe the style of play of teams from other parts of the world, including CONCACAF. This includes the ability to know when to foul and how to foul in a game without being cautioned with a yellow card. And how to make sure fouls are called on your opponents, and that they get carded. This is a big part of the game.

It’s no surprise that the bottom 5 teams in your chart are all from CONCACAF, and 6 of the bottom 7. We need to learn to be “cagier” about this, and how to be more aggressive without getting yellow cards. It’s no surprise that Uruguay are the top team in this ranking; they have been famous for their smart, aggressive style (the famed “garra charrúa”) since I was a small kid. This is a big part of how they have been able to be so successful despite their small talent pool and population base.