Tag: US Soccer

U.S. Soccer teased the unveil for already-leaked USMNT World Cup kits and it did not go well

Building suspense for jerseys everyone has seen!

You almost (almost!) have to respect U.S. Soccer’s effort for trying to build suspense for the World Cup kit unveil, considering everyone has already seen the jerseys. But once you remember the lack of effort that went into designing the actual jersey, that respect dissipates.

After weeks of leaks and near-universal fan outrage, U.S. Soccer is finally prepared to confirm what fans already know is coming: The USMNT is going to have among the worst kits at the World Cup in Qatar.

The official account for the USMNT tweeted a teaser video on Tuesday, showing what was probably Christian Pulisic posing on a backlit stage and covered in shadows. It was a teaser video for the uniform unveiling, which will take place on Thursday.

Again, we’ve already seen both the home and away kits. They’ve been spotted at sporting goods stores. They’ve been tweeted out from U.S. Soccer and Nike events. They’re already for sale at soccer stores in Brazil.

While few fans are holding out hope for a misdirection, plenty of others have accepted the reality of the situation. With that in mind, the USMNT’s teaser attempt didn’t exactly go well.

The USMNT’s 2022 World Cup kits are indeed the leaked jerseys and fans were furious

Who signed off on this?!

Fans of the U.S. men’s national team have waited eight years to see the team take the field on the global stage. And when that time finally arrives this November in Qatar, the USMNT won’t exactly be looking the part at the World Cup.

Over the past few weeks, U.S. soccer fans have seen several leaked photos of the supposed World Cup kits hit social media, and the reaction was almost universally negative. The leaked design featured a centered crest, Nike logo on the sleeves. But really, the uniforms lacked in personality and identity. The design seemed rushed and lazy, which was disappointing for a U.S.-based company designing WORLD CUP jerseys for the U.S. men’s national team.

The jerseys were so bad that fans wanted to hold out hope that it was all a ruse, an act of misdirection to excite fans with the *real* kits. But unfortunately, that’s not how Nike and U.S. Soccer ever operate.

During a jersey unveiling event on Wednesday, media got an early look at the uniforms the USMNT would wear in Qatar — including similar USWNT kits for 2022. And to everyone’s disappointment, the kits were indeed what had been leaked already on social media.

To make matters worse, the unveiling happened just a couple days after rival Mexico and the rest of the Adidas-sponsored nations showed off a phenomenal collection of World Cup jerseys.

At some point, we should hear exactly why Nike and the USSF went in this design direction, especially after player feedback was negative. But there’s no avoiding it now: the USMNT is going to have some of the worst jerseys at the World Cup. Only Puma saved them from the definitive “worst” title.

As expected, fans were not pleased with the news.

A fan spotted the leaked USMNT World Cup kit at a store and it looked even worse in person

An absolute embarrassment.

After an eight-year absence from the World Cup, the U.S. men’s national team will return to the global stage at this winter’s tournament in Qatar. But in true U.S. Soccer fashion, the federation has already managed to disappoint fans before the team even takes the field.

Earlier this week, several photos of the apparent World Cup jerseys hit social media and were universally crushed by fans (and USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie). The leaked jerseys took the current Nike training kit template, centered the crest and abandoned any distinctive look for the USMNT. Where the 2012 Waldo jerseys, 2014 “Bomb Pops” and the would-be 2018 World Cup kits showed creativity, this year’s jerseys looked like something you’d find from an off-brand wholesaler.

And somehow, the jerseys look even worse out in the wild.

A fan posted to TikTok that he spotted the long-sleeve version of the home kit at a Dick’s Sporting Goods but was unable to purchase the jersey because they had been displayed by mistake. According to the post, the official release date is Sept. 21, which will give fans a solid month to accept the impending letdown of an uninspired kit at the World Cup.

But man, these really are terrible. And the long-sleeve version actually resembles a hockey jersey more than anything that should be worn at a World Cup match in Qatar. The product code on the tag also goes to a listing for “Nike USA L/S Home Jersey – 2022.” So those holding out hope of a misdirection will inevitably be disappointed here.

As expected, fans did not have kind things to say about this latest look at the USMNT jersey.

The USMNT’s apparent 2022 World Cup jerseys leaked on Twitter and fans absolutely hated them

What are you doing, Nike?!

When the U.S. men’s national team missed out on the World Cup in 2018, the shocking failure basically had Nike abandoning its World Cup marketing campaign in the U.S. that year. The absence of a highly produced kickoff ad — like in 2010 and 2014 — was obvious and not a coincidence.

It was supposed to be Nike’s first chance to truly market Christian Pulisic (who has since signed with Puma) on the global stage. And you have to give Nike credit: The 2018 jerseys for the U.S. were great.

The same can’t be said for 2022.

While Nike has yet to officially unveil the 2022 World Cup jerseys for the USMNT, a look at the apparent home and away kits were leaked Monday on Twitter. It’s already safe to say that this set won’t rank among the USMNT’s best looks.

The jerseys both have the crest centered, deviating from the typical design for national team jerseys and setting up an odd stacked look with the crest and player number. As fans held out hope that the leaks weren’t real, USMNT and Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie appeared to confirm that the kits were indeed legit. He, too, thought they were ugly.

Given that the U.S.-based Nike was tasked with designing the first USMNT World Cup kit in eight years, it was always going to be difficult to meet expectations. But at the same time, it’s hard to believe these kits were the best Nike could come up with — especially when you see some excellent Nike designs for Brazil and France.

You can’t blame U.S. fans for hating these jerseys.

Honduras player consoled the U.S. goalkeeper after horrific blunder ended Olympic hopes

All class.

For all the strides U.S. Soccer has made with its men’s program in recent years, Sunday’s failure to reach the 2021 Olympics felt like a major step back.

The U23 men’s national team fell, 2-1, on Sunday to Honduras in the semifinal of CONCACAF qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. With a win, the U.S. would have qualified for the first time since 2008. Instead, the loss made it a third straight Olympics without the U.S. men.

While this wasn’t a senior competition and the actual USMNT won against Northern Ireland on Sunday, much of the blame fell on 20-year-old David Ochoa who gave up an abysmal goal at the start of the second half that put the U.S. down 2-0.

But sportsmanship wasn’t lost when the visibly crushed Ochoa fell to his knees after the loss.

Luis Palma, the player who scored that goal, made a point to catch up with Ochoa and offer his words of support.

Palma and Ochoa played together with the Real Monarchs — Real Salt Lake’s USL affiliate — so the Honduras midfielder knew exactly how Ochoa was feeling in that moment.

And sure, the loss was another embarrassment for the U.S. even as the senior team is loaded with young talent. But you have to commend that sign of sportsmanship.

That’s a mistake that Ochoa won’t be forgetting any time soon.

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Christian Pulisic ‘liked’ a Seth Jahn Instagram post that advocated shooting Antifa

The Instagram “like” drew attention over the weekend.

While AC Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimović recently criticized LeBron James for his political activism, the undisputed face of soccer in the U.S., Christian Pulisic, has largely been silent on the political front.

His Instagram “likes” may explain why.

Over the weekend, the U.S. Soccer athletes’ council voted to remove 2015 Paralympian Seth Jahn from the delegation after he made a racist speech at the general meetings. Jahn was speaking in opposition of the push to repeal the USSF’s anti-kneeling rule that was created in response to Colin Kaepernick’s and Megan Rapinoe’s peaceful protests of racial injustice. The council voted overwhelmingly to repeal the rule.

As U.S. soccer fans dove into Jahn’s social media amid his comments, they came across a troubling Instagram post that was “liked” by the Chelsea FC winger and USMNT captain.

The June 30 post from Jahn showed him in a room full of guns, and in the caption, he advocated for the shooting of the anti-fascist movement called Antifa (he referred to Antifa with a NSFW spelling of the group). As of time of publish, Pulisic had not “unliked” the post.

In the post that was “liked” by Pulisic, Jahn wrote:

“waitin’ for [Antifa] to let me sing them the song of my people; same lullabies that’s been providin’ oppressor/terrorist dirt naps since #1776 đŸŽ¶â˜ ïž Stay dangerous, stay strapped, my friends”

USMNT and QPR defender Geoff Cameron was also in the comments and wrote, “I need to step my game up!”

On June 3, in response to the murder of George Floyd, USMNT star and Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie posted an Instagram video calling for an end to police brutality. Pulisic did participate in that video to say, “Enough is enough.” Yet, he “liked” Jahn’s post three weeks later. (Warning: The video contains graphic footage)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-v19aIn4P/

For The Win has reached out to both Chelsea FC and U.S. Soccer about Pulisic’s Instagram “like.” Chelsea FC declined to comment. But a source familiar with Pulisic said that he blindly liked the post as Jahn was an acquaintance.

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U.S. Soccer hits rock bottom with shameful legal argument against USWNT

In a filing, a lawyer for U.S. Soccer made the argument that women’s players were inferior to men. There’s no coming back from there.

Forget the United States men’s national team missing out on qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. We have found a new low for the U.S. Soccer federation.

This week, legal documents in the equal-pay lawsuit brought against U.S. Soccer by the USWNT were made public. In them, attorneys for U.S. Soccer made the argument that women were inherently inferior to men when it came to the game.

Writing on behalf of U.S. Soccer, attorney Brian Stolzenbach made the argument that the job of a USMNT player requires a greater level of skill than does a player for the USWNT.

The attorney also argued that men’s national team members have a greater responsibility to U.S. Soccer than the women’s team does.

It was shocking. U.S. Soccer was echoing the sentiments of toxic trolls you block on Twitter. It was saying the quiet part, the part you always feared they may feel deep down, out loud.

U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro offered an apology after the document was made public and everyone, from USWNT players to journalists to federation sponsors Coca-Cola, expressed their shock at the legal argument. Coca-Cola has publicly demanded an immediate meeting with U.S. Soccer to “express their concerns.”

In the statement, Cordeiro wrote: “On behalf of U.S. Soccer, I sincerely apologize for the offense and pain caused by language in this week’s court filing, which did not reflect the values of our federation or our tremendous admiration of our women’s national team.”

Cordeiro can try to distance U.S. Soccer and make the claim that the attorneys were the ones who made the argument, but it’s a horrifying look either way. He’s either so incompetent that he was unaware of arguments his own legal team was making, or he approved those arguments, and is now trying to cover his tracks. (Especially after major sponsors got involved.)

There are arguments to be made against the USWNT lawsuit. FIFA pays out higher prize money for men’s tournaments than women’s tournaments, and U.S. Soccer could easily deflect some of the USWNT claims onto the higher authority.

Instead, they went scorched earth. They made the argument you can’t come back from, one that gets at the heart of all this. U.S. Soccer is no longer arguing that economic realities or FIFA’s backwardness make it impossible to guarantee equal pay. U.S. Soccer is now arguing that women don’t deserve equal pay because they aren’t equal.

This is sickening.

Part of the reason this is so sickening is how short-sighted this all is. The USWNT is U.S. Soccer’s most successful product by a long shot. They’ve got four World Cup titles. They draw consistently bigger crowds than the men’s team does.

In making this argument, U.S. Soccer is not only risking forever alienating that women’s team, the organization is also sending a message to potential fans — potential customers — that this isn’t as good as the men’s game. It’s an inferior product. 

This is not only morally repugnant, it’s bad business. 

On top of that, U.S. Soccer is now undoubtedly making the men’s team furious, who are suddenly being held up against their will as a superior team to the women’s, even though the men haven’t had even an iota of the success internationally. It also links them to a sexist argument that the men’s team itself almost certainly doesn’t want to make.

Over at SI, Grant Wahl made the argument that U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro needs to resign. I don’t see any other way out of this, myself. This is a dark, dark day for U.S. Soccer, and unless there are wholesale changes, top to bottom, I don’t see a way out of this.

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How to Watch Canada vs United States, CONCACAF Olympic Qualifier Live Stream, Schedule, TV Channel, Start Time

Watch Canada vs United States Live Online.

Canada and the United States each secured their spots at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics women’s soccer tournament after advancing to the final of the women’s CONCACAF qualifying championship. The North American rivals collide at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday in Los Angeles looking for a win to boost morale ahead of the summer games.

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Canada vs. USA 

When: Sunday, February 9

Time: 6:00 p.m. ET

TV: FS2

Live Stream: fuboTV (watch for free)

This is the fourth time in as many editions of the summer Olympics that the USWNT and Canada have accounted for both CONCACAF qualifying places after this format was introduced in 2008. Each team has advanced to the final after winning all four games so far in the tournament and without conceding a goal. 

The Stars and Stripes coach Vlatko Andonovski saw his side snatch its spot in the final after dominating Mexico 4-0 in Friday’s semifinal. Sam Mewis impressed with a goal either side of half-time.

Jordyn Huitema notched her seventh goal of the tournament when Canada beat Costa Rica 1-0 earlier in the evening, increasing her advantage as the top scorer in CONCACAF Olympic qualifying.

Canada may be considered underdogs for this matchup, though it’s worth noting the less heralded North American outfit scored 22 unanswered goals during its Group B campaign. The United States bagged 18 without reply in its three Group A games, including a 6-0 wallop of Costa Rica.

The USWNT has never lost to Canada in 23 meetings overall, with national pride and honor being the main commodities on the line when these nemeses meet in Sunday’s final.

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