This is why I like having 3 kits in the rotation. Home and Away kits that have some tradition and consistency to them and a 3rd that is more bold. I personally think an all yellow redo of the don’t tread on me would look really cool/different, and have more historical accuracy to that flag than the charcoal ones from 14 years ago. There are limitless options that would add some variety and style via a more regular 3rd kit.
I wish USSF would have more 3rd kits, I think they used to do it more often than they have the last 10 years or so. I'd like to see some more creative designs. The 2017 Gold Cup special, the red and blue horizontal striped one, is one of my favorites and that was a guess you could say 3rd kit. But for the World Cup they are strictly limited to two kits and the rules are stricter for World Cup uniforms. They could have an unofficial 3rd kit I suppose, but they could never wear it for a match. As for the Gadsden Flag (the 'Don't Tread on Me' snake), I loved the Nike ad campaign with it for US Soccer, and it's my avatar here. But the yellow flag itself is now a significant political symbol and there is absolutely no way USSF would consider using it anymore in any context, never mind as the entire theme of one of its uniforms.
They make political statements all the time (most recently wore pride-themed kits). The Gadsden flag is an established symbol for US Soccer.
I’d have thought they’ve have stopped using the pride-themed kits now that Q-anon and Proud Boys have co-opted the rainbow motif.
I didn’t mean for my comment/idea to move this in a political direction. …and PSD, you make a good point about only having two WC kits. My 3rd kit idea doesn’t really solve that problem. I enjoy reading peoples opinions on US kits. Our fan base can never really agree on having a traditional kit that gets carried down in some form with each new kit (waldo stripes), or something like this Nigerian kit (which I personally like) that is more bold, colorful and represents the culture of the country. A 3rd kit allows both of the above options. (Other than WC kits :/
I didn't say they don't make political statements, and the pride campaigns and kits are good examples. I am just saying that I would be shocked if USSF adopts the Gadsden flag at this point in time due to the political connotations currently attached to that particular symbol. I think the pride themed kits will continue. i don't want to turn this into a political discussion, just my guess on possible future kits.
I agree, as I think that Parlow Cone is more likely to try to appeal to the DC interests in the US rather than the Main Street interests. This appears to be their calculus thus far and I wouldn’t expect that to change. However, the Gadsden flag has been a part of the US Soccer culture beyond and before any political associations and it would be a shame to lose the same part of our Soccer history that included the “Don’t Tread” era featuring Clint Dempsey and what he meant to representing US Soccer in England.
I would love to see that campaign revived, as I said it's my favorite, thus my avatar. Just reappropriate the flag and slogan and go from there. But USSF will be risk adverse, they'll go the safe route, thus my prediction we won't see DTOM revived. One factor is there's no big demand to bring DTOM back for US Soccer, unlike say the Waldo. I can't count how many times the past 5+ years the Waldo has come up, just look thru this topic it comes up like at least once per page. But I think there's orders of magnitude less supporters clamoring for DTOM to come back.
I'd appreciate some kind of nod to the Revolutionary War, considering we're going to face England (and Wales, I guess, but that's not quite the same thing). Don't have to go out dressed like the Continental Army, but I'd be a little disappointed if there's no reference in there whatsoever. It's part of the banter in the background of the game, so it'd be nice for there to be an element of the jersey associated with it.
That’s true. I’d love for the Waldo to become our permanent look. Do like the French do and put a classy collar on that thing and it’s one of the best looks for any national team. I think you’re also right about this group under Parlow Cone being risk averse, albeit in the direction of distancing themselves from the common American and trying to appeal more to the elitist types…or at least those who like to refer to themselves as such. It’s much better for her career to pander in that direction, even if it potentially is not what is in the best interest of soccer or the country as a whole. These are career people, and this is just one stop along the way. What I can’t figure out is why they haven’t been able to institute the Waldos permanently.
I always hated those denim jerseys, but I’m also a sucker for tradition. Which means I really love this updated Denim Remix!
[QUOTE="NietzscheIsDead, post: 40681745, member: 336363”] What I can’t figure out is why they haven’t been able to institute the Waldos permanently.[/QUOTE] As someone who would like to see the Waldos become the permanent/identity kit, here’s why I don’t think it can. The issue is that the shirt isn’t a “dominant” color that is light or dark. It’s half-white, half-red. If I read FIFA’s kit regulations correctly, the shirt has to be of a primary, dominant color. If you look at Croatia’s iconic kits, they have had to reduce a lot of the red in their checkers compared to how their first checker kit appeared in 1998. Their primary kit is considered a “light kit”. (Note that I don’t make the rules here, I’m just interpreting them.) This is why I always say that the US identity should be “primarily” white, but have red accents. An analogy would be Argentina. Their primary kit always is white with light blue stripes. The stripe change in shade and pattern, but that is always the base. If we do that, then we can do Waldos outside to f competitions when we can.
Your main point makes sense, but to me the Croatia example doesn't seem anymore primarily white/light than the Waldo. Here is the 2018 Croatia WC shirt next to the Waldo. I wouldn't say the Croatia shirt is more "light" than the Waldo.
There are ways the Waldo could be made more light also, so it would be usable when playing a team whose "dark" shirt is primarily red. The back of the Waldo is already primarily white as seen in this photo: They could make the sleeves more white and probably even lighten the red of the stripes in some way that they don't become pink and are just more of a faded red color. I think during the actual World Cup tournament the uniform rules are stricter, so it may be the more classic Waldo can be used for other competitions such as the Gold Cup and Nation's League where it seems most countries now also have a 3rd jersey.
Forgive the crude photoshop, but I think they could just narrow the red stripes on the Waldos to the point where it could be labeled a "light shirt". Maybe they lose a little something, but I still think it kinda works.
yeah I think it does lose something, but it's still better than all white to me, and if that's part of what it takes to be acceptable to FIFA then I'd be ok with it. I think fading the red stripes might work too, sort of like the Argentina example where their blue stripes are quite light. Light blue is their flag color, but I think they fade them a bit lighter on their shirts than the flag blue.
This is what Croatia wore in Russia 4 years ago, so it's FIFA-approved. I'm thinking they got away with it by making the shoulders and sleeves red, so they could claim it's "primary red." If we did something similar with the Waldos, where the shoulders and sleeves were solid red/white, we could claim a primary color without compromising the overall Waldo design.
yeah it's the same picture I posted 4 posts above yours next to the Waldo. But it's not the "dark" kit, because here is Croatia's 2018 Away or 2nd shirt, clearly the darker of the two. FIFA World Cup regulations say this: Each team shall inform FIFA of two different and contrasting colours (one predominantly dark and one predominantly light) for its official and reserve team kits it's on Page 30: https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/2df8816f3b27563c/original/r6gcejmanhw27gzaa9xb-pdf.pdf So the red checkered one must be the "predominantly light" uniform as the dark blue/black checked one is clearly the "predominantly dark" uniform. I think we're in agreement though, if Croatia can use the red check shirt as their "predominantly light" uniform then we should be able to use the Waldo, maybe with some minor tweaks to lighten it.
On a Nike National Team kit release note: Brazil released their primary and secondary kits today: https://www.si.com/soccer/2022/08/08/brazil-reveals-2022-world-cup-kits-qatar-photos The away jersey looks pretty consistent with what had leaked months ago: https://www.footyheadlines.com/2021/10/brazil-2022-world-cup-away-kit.html This tells me that our "rumored" home and away kits may end up not being too far off from what was leaked. Or they could be completely different
I don't think the US leaked photos will be accurate at all. Just because Brazil's leak was accurate doesn't mean ours is. The leak by footyheadlines for the US jerseys specifically says this: "As for the home and away, only color info got leaked thus far, in both cases nothing untraditional for the team - there will be a white USA 2022 home kit and a blue USA 2022 away kit." "Design-wise, nothing has leaked so far. We expect it to be based on the streamlined Nike 2022 / 22-23 template." They then applied those leaked colors to the standard Nike template for both home and away just to show what the colors are like, and then those images got posted over and over as actual design leaks when all they were meant to do is show the colors, not the design. Then somebody found some $5 shorts and some template Nike shirts and photoshopped the crests on them (badly), those were very obviously fakes: 🚨 seeing some final drafts of the #USMNT 2022 home and away World Cup jerseys… pic.twitter.com/toXAupsj1b— USMNT UK (@USMNT_UK) May 5, 2022 I think the home may be close as it'll be boring all white anyway and we may get something close to the template, but I think the second blue kit will be quite different. The reddit leak from @Sebsasour (post: 1490) has a lot of info that I am believing for now. That leak sounds accurate but didn't include photos. There has got to be a real leak soon (real photos) as they're about a month away from release and must be in production by now.