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.
A fan just DMd me these pictures of the 2022 USMNT World Cup kit. pic.twitter.com/u7nDwp6iXB
— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) August 15, 2022
More leaks + some confirmation from a handful of trusted folks.
Your 2022 USA World Cup shirts everyone. pic.twitter.com/oVUmSmhgmK
— Thomas Hill (@puertodelphian) August 15, 2022
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.
Weston McKennie confirms the leaked USMNT kits are real and is seemingly agreeing with most fans that they do indeed suck.
Nice one @ussoccer @nikefootball pic.twitter.com/b5gnHXcLeq
— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) August 15, 2022
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.
This was how Twitter reacted
Slauson swap meet looking jerseys https://t.co/XKcF6uq5Rl
— Oluwajomiloju (@JomiAdeniran) August 15, 2022
bring back the Waldo https://t.co/0bRid9vlYC pic.twitter.com/egetZToyOw
— Jack Holmes (@jackholmes0) August 15, 2022
Not getting out of the group stage lookin like this https://t.co/VsrtwPrrOm
— Trill Taylor (@waxboi1) August 15, 2022
these look like they’re going to debut on the clothing rack at Marshalls https://t.co/LfCWQz9sWP
— actioncookbook (@actioncookbook) August 15, 2022
This white one looks like a very distant cousin of the 2002 WC home kit. Trying to find a silver lining here. 😬 https://t.co/GJGexTA242
— Felipe Cárdenas (@FelipeCar) August 15, 2022
The white one looks like a half-finished defective shirt sold at TJ Maxx for $4.99 and the blue one looks like something a 4 year old made after watching a Blippi Tie-Dye video… https://t.co/EpUbWIaj4P
— American Hooligans🇺🇸⚽️ (@AmericanHoolis) August 15, 2022
How to speedrun a Group Stage exit: https://t.co/zcZ2AXs6zV
— Foxtrot (@DynamicFoxtrot) August 15, 2022
these look like something you’d find at Marshall’s with a stack of markdowns a quarter inch thick on the price tag https://t.co/ODwegc6fd7
— Asymmetric Himbo (@AaronCampeau) August 15, 2022
Whatever dual nat we were fighting for… we might have just lost him. https://t.co/fC5neYpB9m
— Filippo Silva (@TheFilippoSilva) August 15, 2022
Gonna use these as rags when I do plumbing jobs because….. no drip https://t.co/jcW8wyqRTe
— Brand new social media influencer (@ElliottSigh) August 15, 2022
Sunday League jerseys. Simply awful @USMNT https://t.co/J9NaCadyFo
— Joe Dougherty (@Jonaldo16) August 15, 2022
white one looks like it was sold out of a trunk outside a stadium in 2002 and the blue one looks like it's something you'd get at a Nugent concert https://t.co/8YnjDRMa4l
— Hanif Abdurraqib (@NifMuhammad) August 15, 2022
Let’s hope they look better on the players because … yikes.
