This week in US Soccer: Jersey concerns, USWNT prepare for tourney

Jersey concerns, young guns scoring goals and the USWNT prepare for their next big tournament. Here’s your look at the last week in and around US Soccer.

The USMNT third kit

Sports are shot through with drama. From players to owners to media to league offices to fans to former players assaulting folks at a game, there’s always plenty to debate. But I’d like to discuss something of the utmost importance, something that really makes a difference on the field and is totally not superficial at all: jerseys.

The monstrosity you see above is the alleged third jersey for the USMNT. Now, when considered alone, apart from any other jersey, it’s not terrible. It’s definitely not great, but it would be fine as a change of pace from a home or away strip. Having said that, let’s take a look at the current USMNT jerseys.

Home:

Away:

So, as everyone knows, Nike, and most jersey manufactures, utilize templates. The three USMNT jerseys are the exact same design, but with different colors. Fine. Whatever. The problem is almost every other national team that has a deal with Nike has the exact same design.

Go ahead and click this link to Nike’s official National Federation Kits page. France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands. They’re all the same. Nike barely even bothered to adjust the tint on the red jerseys for England, Portugal and, now, the USA. Again, this is how these things work. Nike puts out a new design every year or so and teams accept said design.

But! Nike is an American company. The USMNT is the national team for the United States of America, obviously. How hard would it be to put together a few exclusive designs for the home team? Hell, Croatia received more dedicated customization than the US. Additionally, it appears this USA third jersey is the last of these cookie cutter designs to be released. That’s just lazy.

To make matters worse, in what has become a long-standing internet tradition, a much better USMNT third kit option — using the same template, mind you — has been offered up by a random graphic designer. Conrad Burry straight up puts Nike to shame. Someone get Phil Knight on the phone. Let’s fix this mess.

https://twitter.com/conradburry/status/828821213678075905

The kids are alright

It appears a goal-scoring bug is spreading around quite a few of the younger USA internationals playing their club soccer outside our borders.

Emerson Hyndman recently moved to Rangers in the Scottish Premiership and proceeded to score a goal in each of his first two appearances, including this impressive volley against Hearts. Bobby Wood scored against Cologne in the German Cup for Hamburg on Tuesday, bringing his tally to seven goals in all competitions this season.

Down in Mexico, Paul Arriola is off to a fast start in the Liga MX, scoring twice — including this strike from Saturday — and adding two assists in his first five matches for Club Tijuana. Even Julian Green is getting in on the act — he scored his first goal after moving to Stuttgart in the 2. Bundesliga on Monday.

Christian Pulisic and DeAndre Yedlin didn’t score goals this week, but they did make an impact for their respective clubs. Pulisic set up a Marco Reus equalizer as Borussia Dortmund beat Hertha Berlin on penalties — Pulisic missed his PK (Price Is Right fail horn) —  on Wednesday. Yedlin saved three points for Newcastle when he cleared a stoppage-time header from Derby off the line on Saturday.

None of these players were available for the annual USMNT January camp, or the two friendlies that traditionally end the camp, due to their club commitments. It’ll be interesting to see who head coach Bruce Arena calls in for the March World Cup Qualifiers against Honduras and Panama. Pulisic will certainly be there, and if Arena elects to start Graham Zusi over Yedlin at right back there will be riots. But Arriola, who has only a few caps, may be playing his way onto the roster.

Extra Time

Jill Ellis has called in 25 players for training camp before the 2017 SheBelieves Cup. The big names are mostly all here: Becky Sauerbrunn, Tobin Heath, Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan. Hope Solo, who had some not so nice things to say about Ellis, is most definitely not, and more than likely will never play for the USWNT again. The US will host Germany, France and England for the tournament, which starts on March 1.

The most glaring omission is Megan Rapinoe, who has been struggling to get back to her normal excellent self since returning from an ACL tear she sustained back in 2015. Rapinoe didn’t play much at all during 2016, but still seemed a safe bet to make the cut. It appears that it will take longer for her to be reintegrated into the team than was thought.

Next: Premier League interesting rankings: Reds rise

Clint Dempsey made his return to the field on Saturday, playing 30 minutes during the Seattle Sounders preseason match against the Portland Timbers (he played 45 minutes against San Jose on Tuesday). Having been sidelined since November of last year due to an irregular heartbeat, Dempsey was cleared to train at the beginning of 2017. Getting back on the field was the next small step toward his full recovery. And it appears it may be a long road, especially to his return to the USMNT: Deuce has already been ruled out for the World Cup Qualifiers in March.