Sure, some countries tweak their kits—they might change outfitters or be forced to conform to an apparel company's latest house design. With the United States it's something else. De Tocqueville might ascribe it to American exceptionalism, William James to pragmatism ("To change one's life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly."), Bill Clinton to our need for reinvention. You certainly can't blame market forces, because the national uniform lacked consistency even before sports jerseys became huge sellers. The most likely reason is that soccer has no tradition here. If the national team changed uniforms in Bolivia or Belgium, there would be a revolution. In the United States, no one seems to care.

But perhaps we should. A consistent uniform is good for marketing, builds fan loyalty, and links matches together historically. For supporters of Argentina and Holland, last year's World Cup game (seen in this photo) looked a lot like those countries' classic matches from 1974, 1978, and 1998—the Euros were in orange, and the South Americans in blue and white. If the Dutch had shown up in 2006 wearing red or blue or pink, it just would've felt ... wrong.