Digby

I think it would be less to appeal to Giannis and family, and more to appeal to his Greek fans. I've seen Giannis playing on the road team a couple times now, and each time it's felt like a Greek-American festival (again, for the road team!). No inside info here, but I can imagine they sell even more merch if it touches on Greece aesthetics too (and convenient the shade of blue they've been using sure looks awfully Greek).

Candidly, I've been lukewarm on Berhalter previously, but I think he's done well gameplanning this World Cup and I am failing to see the obvious egregious mistake he's made at all in the World Cup. They gave up zero goals from open play with a goalkeeper who was (gasp) MLS until 5 months ago and (double gasp) went to noted global football powerhouse Fairfield U. Three games against stout opposition, zero losses, the only goal was a penalty kick off an individual dumb decision. I feel good about this team's chances against the likes of the Netherlands, not that I'm going to go out and bet $1000 on a USA win. Gakpo has been tremendous but I don't know that anyone else in their attack has been, and this is the strongest American defensive unit I've seen in my memory (already ready to declare Adams as their man of the tournament).

The Nikespeak press release when they released them was that there were meant to be a number of references to the more "traditional" American sports. The weird yoke + stripes on the home is ice hockey, the stripes on the sleeves are, I guess, gridiron football (assuming the NFL is the only version of that sport that exists...?). I'm not picking up on the baseball or basketball. Anyway, let's all agree that was one more bad experiment happening with this set.

CCV and Ream starting as the CBs, hell of a time for an untested pairing. Hope the hard anti-MLS crowd is correct today!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup_squads#Player_representation_by_league_system Interesting link. Would not have expected MLS to be the sixth-most represented league, or that 3/4 of MLS players would play for someone besides the US (I imagine Canada makes up a lot of that extra, though). Would've guessed that a few more European leagues would be higher than MLS.

I was really pulling for Germany to pull off the surprise at the end there, mostly just because then we'd have a group with everyone on 3 points headed into the third match. Alas.

I thought there was precedent for the black trim at least. But yeah, the all-black kits that are as standard teamwear as it gets... too bad. At least that typeface was kind of fun and certainly stood out.

Messi to Inter Miami might be legit. One of the real GOATs playing in a fancied-up fairgrounds stadium in Fort Lauderdale.

Belgium looked perfectly fine in Nations League, albeit not worldbeaters. Didn't expect the wheels fall to fall off as quickly as they have. How lucky they got in their first game to steal the win. I'd like them to stick around so we can at least see their cool away kit at some point. Davies with the first-ever goal for Canada men at at a World Cup! What a cool guy and a cool goal.

It is just too bad we couldn't at least get Canada the latest and greatest teamwear kits. We should have held a bake sale to fundraise to buy one of these for them.

I agree, which is kinda how I thought from the start but everything got overshadowed by how bad the white ones are. The only thing I find odd is how they're a bit similar, relatively speaking, to the 2020 bleach-spill kits (and I'd argue inferior, due to the weird logo placement and lack of red trim). But still not a terrible look. I think the USA's "look" could be just be loud designs that more refined footballing nations are too classy/boring to ever attempt. We have a legacy with the denim kit, may as well lean in.

I mean I didn't expect that to cross my radar screen when I made that post, so pardon me for being surprised and not following protocol. At any rate, I'd at least ask for a more neutral filter. I don't think I should use a word describing how myself and many of my associates identify only for the board to tell me I'm intolerant toward myself. I also don't think bigots should set the rules of engagement in general around these things.

looked like that but a 4-3-3 when in possession. Cheeky but it worked. Greggggball’s best outcome has been an improved defensive standing and this tweak made it even better without sacrificing chance creation, really smart tweak it turned out. There’s just no solve for the finishing problem. also Pulisic was *not* relied upon as the playmaker so much, which I think was good for both him and the team at large.

Great result for the USA, and a hilarious wet fart from England. Unfortunately the morning result kind of screwed the US, Iran is the type of team they struggle to break down and it’s easy to see another scoreless draw happening there. The lack of any real finishing touch may well undermine some otherwise stout and well-rounded performances here.

Canada's getting screwed by this ref. I hate to whine about the refereeing but yikes. VAR bailed him out once, I have no idea why it wasn't twice... shame Davies couldn't take advantage.

This layout looks more '60s lounge googie chic to me... which would actually work really well for me, if it was a different team/color scheme.

I agree that the cap logo should always be the TC -- nothing personal against the M, I do like it in a vacuum -- but in this particular case it seems more egregious because this rebrand really centers an updated TC. Just keep the focus there! Shame they won their WS rings during a period in the cap wilderness. The other issue with having the three navy caps is that they had to come up with this whole separate one for the cream and no-red alternate. Painted themselves into a corner there.

Well, then I hope they go out in the group stage and he gets fired! Bad call! Ha, I kinda thought the opposite. I don't particularly like the German font, but I'm glad they got out of Adidas's usual tradition of everyone getting the same font, because this year's gaff tape numbers would be an even worse match for the kit in question.

I don't even think he's substantially more talented than the other wingers in the pool... but he broke out at a younger age, when we had nothing else going, and his story is sufficiently "all-American" to sell well. Yesterday felt like a typically frustrating Pulisic game, some great moments (his involvement on the goal was fantastic) but also a lot of plays that died with him. Not entirely his fault but also about what we'd expect. On that note -- I keep coming back to the fact that, as spectacular and technically impressive as the Weah goal was, it also came when the US played direct on a counter. I think a real legitimate knock on the Berhalter era tactics is that those situations seem to creep up by accident, given the focus on wing play and constant crosses (the "right" way to play in theory, but in practice this team always struggles to score a damn goal).

Honestly, a part of me thought that this game, with Fenway sorta playing both sides, might've got us a Fenway-green Bruins jersey. Not saying I wanted it, but the NBA City stuff rotted my brain into this cynicism. Maybe if it was "Stadium Series". Good spot. Northeastern has adopted this layout the last couple years as well, coinciding with their being good at hockey, so maybe it is a nice tribute to an underrated part of New England sports lore. Might tick off the other Beanpot schools though. And I know I say this every time the Bruins unveil a new alternate, but -- a jersey of theirs without some kind of spoked B on the front just always looks wrong to me. Now we have two different bears competing for attention in the 2023 Bruins pro shop. The previous, yellow Reverse Retro would have looked nice against the Fenway walls. Ah well.

Yeah, I think this is mostly it... in that second half they played like the nerves caught up, the fatigue caught up, the smart strategic play gave way to overwhelmed and nervous play. Not sure how to manage out of that part of it, even if the lack of adjustments and subs didn't help.

It is funny to me that each team started an MLS guy. Shame ours made the crucial mistake but, OTOH, theirs scored the equalizer. A meta draw on top of the real draw.

Morris makes sense to me as a late stoppage time sub as the most likely option to have his head be in a favorable position for a goal during late desperation heaves into the box. Now, should that sub have been made earlier and been Reyna at that earlier point? Probably. Assume Reyna picked up a knock, because of course he did. (I'd also prefer the US to just start three of the wingers and have them rotate as necessary into the forward spot with this player pool.)

Feels like a blown opportunity for the USA. Lost too much energy in that 2nd half, and an awful challenge from Zimmerman made the difference. Shame that this team can't convert good attacking play to more quality chances on goal, but that's been nothing new this entire cycle.