Jersey Dispute at a Friendly Match: Magritte Was Right

Anyone who wanted to watch Saturday’s friendly between the USA and Belgium must have been extremely confused at the start. From afar, it simply looked as if only one team was on the pitch — one in light-colored kits. The two teams’ pre-approved kits were that similar.

So similar, by the way, that even the players and the referee on the pitch were overwhelmed, unable to assign players to their teams.

The risk of confusion was probably only noticed when the players removed their warm-up jerseys and lined up for the kickoff, i.e., too late. There were even desperate attempts during halftime to fetch another set of jerseys from the hotel, but there wasn’t enough time. The Belgian red home jerseys, which had initially not been approved due to the looming risk of confusion (!) with the red stripes on the American shirts, were no longer available either.

So teams continued to play light against light, and they took the opportunity to showcase their World Cup-designed jerseys to the world. Note: The USA kit, of course, resembles the American flag. On the back, it is almost completely white — which is precisely what caused the confusion during the game.

A Tribute to Art

The Belgium away jerseys, on the other hand, are full of art history. They are an homage to the Belgian surrealist René Magritte. On the collar stands “Ceci n’est pas un maillot” — “This is not a jersey.” In the case of the friendly, it was, at least, not a good jersey.

In the end, by the way, the Belgians won 5-2. One could not attribute an advantage to them; color-wise, both teams were equally confused. Fortunately, there were the shorts. The Americans wore dark blue shorts, which stood out against the white of the Belgians.