When the United States, Canada, and Mexico won the right to co-host the 2026 World Cup back in 2018, the whole pitch was built around neighbourly solidarity.
Fast forward to now, and the two North American football nations are co-hosting the biggest World Cup in history while barely tolerating each other off the pitch.
Trump’s return to office has ripped through the original spirit of the joint bid, with trade wars and provocative talk of making Canada the 51st state turning what was once diplomatic unity into open bitterness.
Canadians haven’t taken it lying down either. They have cut travel to the United States and stopped buying American products, and that energy is expected to follow fans into stadiums this summer.
The hostility has already spilled into sport. Canadian fans booed the US national anthem at the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025, which Canada won.
Then at the Winter Olympics, the United States beat Canada in both the men’s and women’s hockey gold medal games, deepening the wound.
There’s a fear the 2026 tournament could end up being even more politically charged between the two nations and we got first glimpse of that as Nike released the home and away kits for both USMNT and Canada yesterday.
The USMNT home shirt features curvy red and white stripes recalling their 2012 Waldo design, while the away kit goes understated with subtle stars on a rich navy base.
Canada’s offering takes inspiration from the True North identity. The home kit design features a maple leaf pattern over a red backdrop whereas the away shirt rocks stealthily dangerous black ice.
Both sets of kits were well received but soon a discourse broke on X that we were not ready for.
As it turns out, a cheeky Canadian account spotted that the big XXL and 3XL sizes for the USMNT away kit were already sold out on a platform. The tweet has racked up 5.2 million views at the time of writing with 92000 likes and even 2000 bookmarks.
The intention was to point out the burgeoning obesity problem in USA.
A major new study has recently found that nearly 70% of US adults could now be classified as obese, up from the previously accepted 40%.
Researchers project that half of US adults will develop obesity by 2060, costing the healthcare system $20.4 trillion.
The Americans, refusing to back out, also screenshotted the Canada away kit being sold out for XL, XXL and XXL sizes in one platform.
Over two-thirds of Canadian adults are now classified as overweight or obese, up from 60% before the pandemic.
Obesity is rising fastest among young adults, and the crisis now costs Canada’s healthcare system over $27 billion annually.
Safe to say, there’s a huge obesity problem within both countries but the bigger sizes being sold out could have other reasons as well.
One reason could be that people fancy baggy fitting more nowadays.
Second could be and the manufacturer perhaps doesn’t make as many of the bigger size as they do for normal ones.
Not how that works. Those sizes either never went live online or were built in much smaller size scales than best selling M-XL
— Brown (@0neBrown) March 17, 2026
Either way, the kit discourse perfectly mirrors the wider USA-Canada tension heading into this summer.
Two co-hosts, two obesity crises, and two fanbases already at each other’s throats before a ball is kicked.
The 2026 World Cup hasn’t started yet, but the banter tournament is already well underway.
