New USA 08 Home Kit

US Soccer has unveiled the new 2008 Home kits, and once again they are a completely new style. The new kits are white and gray hoops with red piping, to me it looks more like a golf shirt than anything. In the last few years we have had white with a red and blue vertical stripe, blue with white and red horizontal stripe, royal blue with white pinstripes, red with white and blue sash (the "Don't Tread On Me" kit that I wish we would keep), white with red and blue sides, red and white stripes, stonewashed blue with white stars, vanilla and blue, and white with blue and red diagonal stripes on shoulder and shorts. While the kit has kept the red, white, and blue, the actual design changes way too much. Other countries keep the same colors as well as the same basic designs, only changing small things, usually due to kit manufacturers chaning templates.

Look at Argentina, Brazil, England, Italy, or the Netherlands. You can always recognize Argentina in their classic blue and white stripes, or Brazil's famous yellow shirt with blue shorts. The only changes to them have been Nike or adidas using a new template. The Azzuri's blue kits have remained almost unchanged, with only minor changes like sleeve or collar trim. England and the Netherlands have had a few more changes to their kits over the years, but you have still always been able to tell if they were playing just by seeing those shirts. The same can be said for many other countries as well. With the USA though, there is no one kit that stands out. The one that does the most would probably be the kit worn in the 1-0 win over England in the 1950 World Cup - the white shirt with diagonal red sash and blue piping.

My personal favorite would be the "Don't Tread On Me" jersey used in the friendly versus Latvia prior to the 2006 World Cup; a dark red shirt with a white and blue diagonal sash, along with blue shorts and socks. Unfortunately, the kits were only used for that game then auctioned off. Nike also produced a great marketing campaign to go along with the new kits, including Clint Dempsey's song "Don't Tread". It would have been a great way to kick off having a recognizable kit instead of chaning every two years.