A team without a name is like a ...

The national soccer teams which are competing in the World Cup have names, like South Africa's Bafana Bafana – Zulu for Boys Boys.

And the team names seem to fall into a couple of categories. Some are named for colors: Les Bleus of France, Oranje of Netherlands, La Roja of Chile, and The All Whites of New Zealand.

There are animals: The Elephants of Ivory Coast, The Super Eagles of Nigeria, The Three Lions of England, and better than those are The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.

Some team names are helpful, like The Black Stars of Ghana. The flag of Ghana is easy to confuse with Cameroon, unless you remember that it has a black star in the middle whereas Cameroon has a yellow one.

The award for the most ridiculous name has got to go to Australia, who call themselves The Socceroos.

But America seems to be the only team without a name. Although one magazine I read referred to them as The Yanks, every American I've asked isn't aware of such a name.