With less than a few months left, the US men’s national team look set to make their return to the FIFA World Cup this time in Qatar. After having appeared for the previous 7 World Cups in a row (since 1990), the Yanks failed to make it past the fifth round of the CONCACAF qualifications and missed out on the 2018 edition in Russia.
But as they confirmed qualification this time around as early as March, the USMNT are now set to return and have also been drawn in the same group as England. While a clash against the Euro 2021 finalists would be a stern test for the Americans, this US team are certainly capable of making a huge upset against Gareth Southgate’s men.
Boasting a core of young and talented players such as Christian Pulisic, Giovanni Reyna, Weston McKennie, Sergino Dest and Timothy Weah, Gregs Berhalter’s men are stacked with players who have substantial experience playing in Europe.
Although the Yanks appear to have the quality to go against England on the pitch, it looks like they will have to do that while sporting kits that severely lack nuance.
A leaked image of Nike’s 2022 World Cup home and away shirts for the USMNT reveals them to be an utter disaster thanks to the unimaginative and bland designs. The white home and blue away jerseys are nowhere near Nike’s best creations from this season alone and have even upset team members such as midfielder Weston McKennie who took to Instagram to show his disappointment.
The home kit appears to be a plain white kit with no pattern that features a centralized US badge. The only appealing design on the shirt appears to be under the round collar that sports a bit of dark blue which has also been matched on the arm sleeves.
In comparison, the away kit certainly possesses some much-needed colour as Nike has opted for a faded dark blue pattern all over the shirt. Similar to the home jersey, this one too sports a centralized badge.
Both shirts appear to be missing the Nike logo by the breast pocket however, that could be the case since these are likely to be early and unfinished designs for the kits. But with several well-informed sources on kits confirming the same designs for either jersey, US supporters seem to share the disappointment voiced out by McKennie.
The 23-year-old commented below a post about the kit by a USMNT fan page that he “tried to tell them (to change the design).”
The Juventus man has also been joined by US teammate Timothy Weah who also took to social media to critique the World Cup kits. Weah however gave a more cryptic response in “wait till ya’ll see the real ones” as if to suggest that these were not the official designs.
While a few supporters have been suspicious of a planned attempt from the players to mislead fans, the leaks from multiple sources have confirmed these to be the actual designs for the WC kits.
Perhaps more than for these bland creations, USMNT supporters would be incensed if Nike go ahead and give England a fiery home kit now. As per early leaks, the Europeans are set to receive an impressive white and blue home kit which in comparison looks to be a better and more finished version of the US home shirt.
If the designer goes ahead with this design, then surely the clash between the two nations will have this added narrative to it as both teams will be looking to grab hold of the bragging rights at stake.
