Friday, June 13, 2008

2008 USA Home Soccer Shirt


I've got to admit, my first impression of the 2008 USA Home jersey was not very good. The shirt has been debated all over the US Soccer blogosphere. Bill Archer from Big Soccer calls it a Golf Shirt, many of the comments over at Goff's Soccer Insider were not excited by the design, and Soccer by Ives says it looks like a Gap commercial. However, the comments at Football Shirt Culture and Luis Arroyave from The Red Card generally like it and I have to say, my opinion has changed for the better after seeing the shirt on the field a couple of times now.

I finally decided to get one for myself from soccerpro.com and I was actually pleasantly surprised when I took it out of the shipping package. The "off-white-grey" color is less prominent than in the pictures, making it look very clean with red pinstripes and not quite as preppy as I thought it would be. I was also impressed with how the inside collar has the Stars and Stripes and the Don't Tread On Me slogan. Good so far.



I even got all excited and pulled the shirt on to pretend I'm a good soccer player in the field behind my back yard. True to my usual form, I dribbled the ball off my shins, whiffed a couple of times, and ballooned a few shots a mile over the goal and decided to call it a day. No really, I'm awful, but the good news is the shirt was comfortable and cool on a very hot and muggy day.

It turns out my initial impressions from the early internet pictures have faded and although I may be in the minority, I actually like the "golf" shirt. My personal style doesn't usually include the polo-shirt look, but I'll definitely be wearing this shirt out and about. As a side note, I just wish that the USSF and Nike would come up with a US shirt that featured red more prominently, even if it's the red and white striped look of the 1994 shirts.

Also, did anyone else find it annoying that the recent Argentina-USA friendly featured very closely colored shirts? I couldn't tell the teams apart very well. (I read somewhere that Argentina refused to wear their darker tops, don't know if it's true though) Maybe it was just my TV.

If you have an opinion on the USA home shirt, good or bad, feel free to share in the comments below.

4 comments:

  1. I really like the shirt. Even though it is true that it looks like a golf shirt or a polo shirt. It does look good when you wear it with your soccer outfit.

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  2. I really like the shirt. Even though it is true that it looks like a golf shirt or a polo shirt. It does look good when you wear it with your soccer outfit.

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  3. Any chance you know the style # of this jersey?

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  4. Let me know if you're in the seller market with this Jersey. I'd love to take it off of the back of your closet. (juand90@msn.com)

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