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The United States men's national team will be going dark mode in its World Cup round of 16 match against Belgium.
The U.S. will don its dark blue "Stars" kit for the second time at this tournament when it takes on Belgium on Monday at Seattle with a quarterfinals spot on the line.
The USA in its secondary dark blue uniform. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
The team is 0-1 so far when it wears the kit, having lost 3-2 on a last-second goal to Türkiye in the group stage finale. It has gone 3-0 when it wore the red-and-white "Stripes" jersey at the tournament with wins over Paraguay, Australia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The USMNT wore dark blue shorts against Australia, having won white shorts in those other games.
Jeremy Doku and Keyin De Bruyne playing for Belgium. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
The decision to wear the dark blue kit against Belgium will help alleviate a contrast issue that occurred when both teams played a March friendly in Atlanta in which the USA donned the "Stripes" look while Belgium used a pink-and-light-blue look that was inspired by Belgian artist René Magritte and the country's surrealist art movement.
Players for the USA said that it was a factor in differentiating players on the pitch because of the light-colored appearance of both teams, which was won by Belgium 5-2.
"It was very difficult," Christian Pulisic said back in March about the color clash, but noted the game's jersey issue was "not an excuse at all, because both teams deal with that. But that was a bit strange."
The USA-Belgium uniform matchup caused some confusion in March. (Photo by John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)
U.S. midfielder Weston McKennie said in March after that game: "It was definitely a little bit difficult whenever you do a quick glance to tell which was which. It was almost a 50-50 thing, so you definitely had to maybe take a little more time on the ball before you make a decision or play one touch to a player."
That shouldn't be an issue on Monday.
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