Why? Because when their "fans" (that randomly pop-up every 4 years) hear they're playing Ghana they go "Who the fuck are they? Ghana? Haha that African country? Fuck yeah we're gonna beat them...we're 'Murica!"

It's like they're going to war and they're counting they're counting troop sizes, number of tanks, fighter jets, or whatever. You have to literally remind them that this is not literal warfare but football.