Chivas outdo America with anniversary kits

I never envy Chivas, even when they occasionally win something, but the jerseys the commemorative jerseys they wore in their friendly against Arsenal made Club America’s jersey appear even more dull than they did before. Chivas wore the jersey because Apertura 2016 marks the team’s 110th anniversary. From a distance, the jersey ironically looks like the Paraguay kit, regardless, the kit outdid America’s conception of an anniversary kit. From the unnecessary laces to retouched logo, Chivas put together a kit worthy of an anniversary while their rivals kind of tried.

America’s home jersey doesn’t try to inspire nostalgia, it looks rushed and halfhearted. Whoever designed tried to bridge the past with the present and future, but instead put together the kit equivalent of a shrug. The lone callback to America’s history rests on the team’s badge, a creamier and less articulated resemblance of the team’s more contemporary iteration. The rest of the jersey looks all too similar to last year’s kit. By deleting the red and navy stripes from last season’s uniform and bleaching half of the jersey, America tried to pass of this season’s kit as an “centenario” kit. It clearly isn’t, despite what the crest may say.

America’s kit continues to fall short of its hated rival’s by the glaring and obnoxious Huawei, Total, Corona, Coca Cola and Interjet logos, all of which absent from America’s very first kit. Yes, Chivas did include a Tecate and Pepsi logo, but the red stripes camouflage these decals all too well. America’s away kit does a slightly better job to qualify as an anniversary kit but not really. When America presented its away kit, it had to explain the dominating crimson red color of the jersey honored the team’s game against Torino FC to honor the opening of Estadio Azteca. This detail seems all to obscured and thus makes a poor effort for this jersey to feel vintage.

It may sound petty to find the differences between the Chivas Jersey and the America jersey, but America built up this season with promotional videos showing why those who oppose envy the team. America should have made a jersey unique from the rest devoid of advertisements and packed with details reminiscent of eras past. I’m not saying they should have made this hypothetical jersey its main jersey, they’d be insane to pass on the advertisement money, but I’m saying they should at least have one kit on hand for one or two games. This jersey may exists and may step out of the deepest cellars of Coapa, but for now, America fans have a pair of jerseys they can wear to watch games but not take out in public. Maybe 10 years from now they release a jersey mightier than Chivas for its 110th celebration.