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Fans were far from impressed with Nike’s design for the USMNT’s World Cup kits, as former defender Alexi Lalas claimed the jerseys should have leaned on “the US aesthetic to be big, bold, beautiful and even arrogant.”
Nike officially unveiled the kits for the World Cup in Qatar on Thursday morning, along with the jerseys of eleven other teams, including Portugal, France and Brazil.
The US home shirt is a relatively simple design and has a white background with blue and red accents on the sleeves and another blue panel around the collar with the emblem below in the center.
The away kit has a little more flair, with the sports giant opting for a blue tie-dye jersey with solid royal blue shorts and socks.
Nike said the designs are “inspired by the diversity and storied heritage of the United States across a variety of sports, leagues and associations.”
But former USMNT defender Lalas claimed the sportswear brand had failed to lean “into the red, white and blue” of the American aesthetic.
Fans were unimpressed with Nike’s design for the USMNT’s World Cup kits (home strip above)
The away kit has a little more flair with the sports giant opting for a blue tie-dye jersey
“Whatever you do, there will be people who won’t like it,” Lalas said in his State of the Union podcast.
“It’s very, very rare for sweaters to come out and they’re universally loved and even sometimes it takes time for that to happen, so I’m not saying that can’t change.
“But we have a built-in look. We are red, white and blue. We are stars and stripes. And I think it doesn’t matter who it is, whether it’s a football team or someone else, we have to lean on that and be proud of that.
“I think being big and bold and beautiful, and yes a little arrogant at times, that’s who we are and our aesthetic should reflect what I think is the best country in the world. All that good and sometimes the bad must be reflected in what we do.
“So it designs itself to a certain extent. Be big, be bold, be red, white and blue, be stars and stripes, be over the top. But above all: be memorable.’
Former defender Alexi Lalas claimed Nike failed to ‘lean in red, white and blue’
It will be the sixth time that the American men have been outfitted by Nike during a World Cup, dating back to France 1998.
But fans echoed Lalas’ thoughts on the latest jerseys as they criticized the designs on social media.
One joked instead of donning the jersey in support of the USMNT at the World Cup, they will have to change citizenship.
They posted, “Hey, nice job @nike. Instead of buying my 5th USMNT jersey, I have to change my citizenship now.”
One fan was particularly scathing about the blue tie-dye away kit for comparing it to an animal print cocktail dress.
They posted: ‘That kit looks like an animal print my single aunt would wear to a cocktail party.’
Fans echoed Lalas’ thoughts on the latest jerseys as they hit the designs on social media
Others disagreed that the home shirt bears a striking resemblance to Nike’s designs for European club training kits.
On-supporter urged the national team to switch to Nike’s rival Adidas as they were unimpressed by the similarity.
De said: ‘So @nike had been putting out a kit concept for 8 years that we could all wear proudly and you went with the club tracksuit? @usmnt Please go to @adidas.’
‘Cool. You gave us the PSG warm-up kits and put a badge on them. Embarrassing,” another added.
Others disagreed that the home shirt bears a striking resemblance to clubs’ training kits
Others, however, seemed to find a very thin silver lining, claiming that the hatred of the kit could unite the country.
One wrote: “The only thing that has ever brought the entire USMNT Twitter community together is our collective hatred of the World Cup kits.”
Another agreed, tweeting, “These USMNT kits could bring the country’s solidarity out of common hatred.”
Some supporters have argued that the hatred of the new World Cup kit could unite the country