Collective nouns

I lived in England for a year. Thirty-some years later, I still spout British slang like "half-four" ("four-thirty"), much the annoyance of everyone in the vicinity (eye-rolling in the case of the Young Relative; maniacal rage, in the case of the Cranky Friend). But I can never get used to hearing usage like "Uruguay are fighting back," as I did while watching the World Cup over my grilled cheese and tomato sandwich at Hood's today. It sounded wrong to me back then ("Oliver's army are on their way"), and it still does.