The Sad State Of US Soccer Jerseys
Today in Slate, Michael J. Agovino has a slideshow and essay dedicated to the poor choices made by Nike over the years in outfitting the US team. While it’s always great to see random soccer articles in high-profile places, he gets a few things wrong in the process. His basic premise is correct when he says:
A consistent uniform is good for marketing, builds fan loyalty, and links matches together historically. For supporters of Argentina and Holland, last year’s World Cup game looked a lot like those countries’ classic matches from 1974, 1978, and 1998—the Euros were in orange, and the South Americans in blue and white.
But then he adds:
Even as soccer has grown in popularity in the States, it’s been impossible for American crowds to achieve such an effect.
It hasn’t been impossible at all. It’s been done on plenty of occasions, notably here in DC. Here’s a picture of the US-Honduras World Cup Qualifier from September 2001 at RFK.
Although US Soccer’s attempts to separate the US and Honduran fans didn’t work out, this picture clearly shows the red-clad US fans and the Hondurans wearing blue. And this is the “quiet side.” That’s because here in DC, we have the established traditions of the Blackouts for United playoff games, so the idea of wearing red for the US isn’t a novelty, as it is in some markets.
Agovino later errs when he compares the jerseys worn by the US and Mexico during their historic 2002 World Cup match.
The Americans donned white jerseys with a plain front and a blue-and-red zigzag down the side—perhaps the National Team’s thousandth design in 50 years. (The zigzag was a design tweak mandated by Nike.) The Mexican team, by contrast, is known as “El Tri” for its green, white, and red flag and corresponding uniform—the perennial green shirt, white shorts, red socks.
Putting aside his hyperbole (the US changes its design every two years, as do many nations), the implication is that Mexico has never altered its primary jersey. Here are only four of the jerseys Mexico has worn since 1998.
Note that there different styles (the Aztec Calendar Stone shirt worn in 1998 was no less symbolic of their nation, and no more attractive, than our “Stars And Stripes” kits from 1994), as well as different shades of green (and the current shirt is an even deeper green). Maybe Mexico should go back to that. We’ve owned them on the field since they chucked that design.
This is an argument I’ve had with soccer commentators for years. Watch a game between the US and, say, Brazil and they’ll say the same thing. “The US are wearing white and Brazil are in their traditional yellow.” Now, Brazil’s shirt is undeniably iconic, but the US has had white as its primary color for years, so why is that considered no less traditional than Brazil’s?
