I get what you're saying but as a big time Waldo fan, I don't think the fact that a lot of CONCACAF opponents wear red should stop us from adopting the Waldo as our primary. When we're home and wearing it, it's incumbent on the visiting team to wear a contrasting kit. I think the all white 2nd kits of those countries contrasts enough with the Waldo, especially when we pair it with the blue shorts. And if not, they can wear their third kit, as visitors it's their responsibility. When on the road, a mostly blue shirt (or even other colors) would work for us as a complete contrast to the Waldo. Unfortunately, a mostly red 2nd kit wouldn't be good as was pointed out before as it doesn't contrast enough with the Waldo. Then let Nike go crazy with a 3rd kit. To add, I do sort of like your idea of the Waldo as a special occasion shirt, as there doesn't seem to be any indication USSF will ever adopt it as our primary.
https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/team-usa-2021-olympic-uniforms-47184188 they used similar colors for the track olympic stuff, darker blue maybe, still busy but simpler designs
When I was in college at Illinois, the basketball team only wore orange for its big games. If they played a big rival or against a highly-ranked team, particularly at home, they wore their orange uniforms. Otherwise, they stuck with white at home and navy on the road. When they wore orange, the whole crowd usually showed up in orange as well. It was definitely a big game mindset. I'd love to see the Waldos follow that path. When you see the team walk out in the Waldos, you immediately think "Big game starting right now". I don't think you're going to see CONCACAF teams ever go to a third kit regularly unless FIFA or CONCACAF mandate it. There are VERY few national teams that have a third kit worldwide. Brazil had a really dark green/almost black third kit for the 2014 World Cup, but they never wore it. Italy has a dark green third kit (which looks fantastic, by the way), but UEFA mandated teams only register two kits for the Euros this year.
deal is the national team's unis are drenched in national pride and the flag and the like and so the commercial motives of club second or third jerseys that go "off brand" are not received as well. and that's talking about it as color and such. you have some on here who wish we had a traditional, consistent trope for one or both jerseys. hoops, pinstripes, sash, whatever. so it leans towards tradition a lot. you see from this reaction that people don't react well at all to "cute" or "commercial" in this particular line of jersey design. they might like a cool idea but if it goes over the top or seems intended to sell stuff they get cranky. personally i like traditional but if they want to get cute, it would better fit the 4 year cycles if the playful jersey was the front end of the cycle and we phased into the "now it's time for business" traditional outfits for quali and the finals. like, if nike has to do this, it's a friendly thing, and we're back serious this time of the cycle. if this is the road jersey for the rest of the cycle including qatar it's hideous.
it might be a minor quibble but nah- horizontal stripes (hoops) are the way to go if its going to be an element.
like I said if the Waldo isn't going to be our primary, then I sort of like this idea. But is there some rule where you have to register your kits before competitions? I don't think you can just show up at a big game with a new design/pattern. So in this scenario the Waldo would have to always be our official 3rd kit? I don't know the answer, just asking. BTW I own that Brazil 3rd shirt from WC14 and love it, mine is starting to wear out I've worn it so much. It's definitely green. I own the 2nd blue one from WC14 also but I never wear it, just hangs in the closet.
I was going to mention this 1994 home shirt in the discussion of contrasting with other countries who wear red. This and the Waldo worked for the US as the primary/home shirt so I'd think adopting the Waldo as the primary would be OK now. The visiting teams are responsible for wearing something contrasting.
Why would anyone be concerned with the visiting team's ability to contrast with a hoops US home kit, when currently Nike isn't concerned about coming out with a kit that isn't a seizure-inducing eyesore?
I like both to be honest but after seeing the women wear the blue, I honestly hate them more so I may just be looking for any alternative at this point. My favorite of the Nike era is definitely the Waldos though.
Interesting case study in the Spain-Croatia game today. Both teams wore their change kits. Spain's primary shirt color is red, and the secondary (their only change kit for the Euros) is white. Croatia's primary is of course the iconic red/white checker. Both teams couldn't wear their primary at the same time because of the red. Croatia couldn't wear its primary with Spain in white. So you saw a matchup of two teams with iconic primary kits both forced to wear their secondary kits. That's what I'm talking about when I say that it would be tough for the true Waldos to be a primary US kit. I think you'd see a lot of times where the US would have to wear a blue secondary. From a practical standpoint, you almost have to go with a dominant light kit and a dominant dark kit and keep the Waldos as special occasion kits.
Most teams we face in CONCACAF have all-blue or all-white kits. So where's the problem? Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Curacao, etc. We may have to wear an alternate kit sometimes against Panama or Trinidad. That's well worth a consistent look the other 90 percent of the games.
the teams you list all wear red shirts at home, so when we are away at those countries we wear our alternate, which would probably usually be blue. When we are home, they need to wear an alternate kit that contrasts with our Waldo. I looked and many of them have all white away kits, which should be fine if we are in our Waldos with blue shorts and dark socks. I don't see the issue. And if it is such an issue, how do these teams manage to play each other since they all wear red?
These are awful. And the painterly brush stroke effect looks like it is out of the 90s. It looks like the New England Revolution's logo flipped on its side.
does Mexico wear all black in the US because the jersey sells well or was it because we were white/blue? The only thing that would've improved that game was if Mexico were in their traditional green/white
when the current 2nd kit first came out I was one of many who blasted it saying how horrible it was. I'm not now saying I love it, but after seeing it actually on the players during the matches, I thought it looked ok, maybe even good. As a 1-off I'm ok with it now, as I sort of think of it as a 3rd kit or special edition The fact that our boys won the tournament probably helps me to like it a bit more. The first leaked shitty quality photos of the shirt in some warehouse made it look atrocious. But when the players are actually wearing it, I like it a lot more. I still don't like the discontinuity in the middle of it, and the all blue back looks awful without a name/number on it. But when this one hits the close out racks, I might actually get it to commemorate winning the cup especially since I was at the last 2 matches. I know I'm gonna take some heat for changing my mind!
Still hideous and on a beer bellied american fan they look even worse than your pic. God is punishing us or something!