World Cup jerseys get mixed reviews ahead of Qatar’s opening match against France
The United States’ women have been in the spotlight for the past week—with all of the attention surrounding the Women’s World Cup final—but we wanted to put the spotlight on the men. And, boy, did we ever.
Here’s what you need to know:
The United States Women’s National Team will play France in the opening match of the 2015 Women’s World Cup in the Qatar Football City on Tuesday, Feb. 1. The game is being shown on Fox, but you can watch it on ESPN in the United States and ESPN in Europe.
There are two jerseys: The default one will be the home-nationals one. The only difference is the flag that will fly over the player’s left arm, which will be blue for the United States and red for the hosts. The away-nationals jersey features the United States’ flag alongside the host’s flag and the colors of both countries.
The jersey colors do have more cultural significance than the team uniforms that the Americans will wear when they’re playing the French, who have a black-and-white-striped jersey and a red jersey with white trim, as well. What’s more, the United States Women’s National Team’s jerseys will also be the ones that fly over the United States’ first-team squad at the World Cup. In case you thought that the jersey design would be the most important thing, you’d be wrong.
Here’s how we’re choosing to review this World Cup in general and the players in particular.
The two-way street
Of course, it’s great when two teams have a “best-friend” relationship. It means they’re both on the same mission and they both have something to get from the competition. The United States-France game could be a perfect example of the two-way street.
This is a game that is both in the United States’ name and in France’s name, and we’re both rooting for it.
On the French side, we’ve got a team that’s loaded with talented young players who
