It was 100% true in vCoH. Only really notable North American vCoH players I can think of off the top of my head were Marinez, nystrom, and Gosu. The rest were all Europeans and Russians, and eventually Koreans in the last few years of competitive play.
Most of my coh1 friends still play it and refuse to play coh2. Its become some sort of twisted principle now.
Oh, and you left out BigJesus.