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Time the US MNT Had A Proper Nickname?

January 25th, 2006 | By: Daryl | 28 Comments »

The excellently titled We Call It Soccer points out that referring to our side as “the men’s national team” is a little uninspiring, and the acronym MNT is even worse. Sounds like a corporation. Consider these African national team nicknames instead:

Ghana - The Black Stars
Ivory Coast - The Elephants
Nigeria - Super Eagles
South Africa - Bafana Bafana (The Boys)
Cameroon - The Indominatable Lions

For better or worse, America is a patriotic nation (try counting how many times you see the stars and stripes per day if you don’t believe me) so surely we can come up with something better than MNT.

My initial reaction was that “MNT” was forced on us by the USSF’s determination to attach equal importance to all the various national teams. With all respect to Mia Hamm et al, this has held the mens team back in terms of devleoping their own identity. Every time the USA team is mentioned it has to be specified that you’re referring to the mens national team and not the women’s under 20’s B team or whatever.

This borderline mysogynistic attitude was rethought when I discovered that the African women’s teams all have equally cool names. The Cameroon women are called The Indominatable Lionesses for example.

Nicknaming a team is tough work though. Even some African nations have pretty poor monikers:

Benin - The Squirells
Burundi - The Sparrows
and my personal favorite…
Central African Republic - The Low-Ubangui Fawns

Tongue firmly (I hope) in cheek We Call It Soccer suggested The Iron Eagles, in honor of the 1986 Louis Gossett Jnr. flick. Maybe not, but can anyone out there come up with something better?

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 28 comments.

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By VineytheLimey | January 26th, 2006 at 12:38 pm

Good remarks peddy eddy etc. My efforts:

The Bald Eagles, Stars and Stripes, Guitars and Ginger Hair, We Will Illegally Invade Your Country (With Britains Help) and Steel Your Oil XI!, Bruce Arena’s Head, Loud Mouthed Yankee’s.

Posted from United Kingdom

By chris | January 26th, 2006 at 6:32 pm

What are your thoughts on the MNT’s (took me forever to figure out what that meant on US Soccer’s website…forever being about 5 minutes) Nike-inspired logo for this WC campaign? Trying to get all tough-looking with the snake and whatnot. It strikes me (no pun intended) as a bit contrived and PR driven than anything else.

Posted from United States

By daryl | January 26th, 2006 at 11:19 pm

As I understand it, the snake logo (which you can see here) isn’t the MNT’s logo, but part of Nike’s “Don’t Tread On Me” publicity campaign to toughen up soccer’s reputation in the US.

It is a bit contrived and it is PR driven, but it has to be a good thing that Nike is willing to pump some money into changing the perception of soccer over here.

Posted from United States

By Queso | January 27th, 2006 at 4:35 pm

I have posted this on the index page.. but for the sake of argument I am posting it again, I am pretty sure the US team is called “The Nats”. Not the best name.. and it could be confused for “The Gnats”. But I think thats the US nickname.

Posted from United States

By daryl | January 27th, 2006 at 5:28 pm

The USA team does get called “The Nats” but that’s just short for “the national team” and so no better than “MNT” as a nickname. A nickname should inspire pride in the team, maybe even intimidate the opposition a bit. I’d rather play against “The Nats” than “The Indominatable Lions” for example.

Posted from United States

By Joe | January 28th, 2006 at 1:46 pm

You don’t like the Iron Eagles? OK… We can do better.

“Nats” doesn’t count — that’s just short for national team.

How about the Damn Yankees?

The Screaming Eagles would be perfect, but it’s already the name of DC United’s largest supporters’ group.

We could go Old West… The Desperadoes?

Posted from United States

By Bryan Norman | January 31st, 2006 at 11:29 pm

In my trips out of the country I have been amazed how the “West” cowboys, indians, and horses are part of others perceptions of the USA. With that in mind how about:
The Mountain Scouts
The Plains Drifters
Six gun rangers
maverick steers
Plateau Eagles

Posted from United States

By A real American | February 4th, 2006 at 1:09 am

Why can’t they just be called what they are. America’s team

Posted from United States

By victor palacios | February 4th, 2006 at 4:37 am

MNT is OK until a consensus is obtained
I thought of many names but nothing that
really captured the imagination- for me now they are The Thrill as I see the exciting development of this increasingly
improving group of enthusiastic young men
and their soccer hierarchy(USSF)and proud
fan base. That goes for the women too -
incredible achievements there - WOW!!!

Posted from United States

By Blake | February 7th, 2006 at 1:40 pm

UH,horrible ideas so far, no offense. How about this name: THIRD PLACE LAST WORLD CUP WHERE WAS ENGLAND?

Sorry I got carried away. I know, I know, 1966. Got it.

Let’s stray from the Eagles. The original symbol for the US was to be the Turkey anyway. Sounds good to me, the Turkeys. Or, let’s be the Hillbillies, Woodpeckers, or the Rock Rollers. Clever readers can guess which state I live in. Go U.S. Impeach Bush.

Posted from United States

By US SOCCER FAN | February 8th, 2006 at 6:12 am

How about the Young Guns? Since the US MNT has started winning games / qualified in the WC since 1990 after a long absence of a great US soccer team.

Other Options:
The Yankees
The Stars & Stripes
The Blue Team (MNT)
The Red Team (WNT)
The Liberty Eagles
The Flying Pikachus
The We’re going to take over this sport too team (WAGTTOTSTT) WAGTOTS

By US SOCCER FAN | February 8th, 2006 at 6:14 am

THE FLYING PIKACHUS IS FINE

By joel | February 20th, 2006 at 3:37 pm

i actually kind of like the young guns. reminds me of the old west… and the fact that we ALL (wink, wink) carry guns.

Posted from United States

By lone wolf | March 2nd, 2006 at 1:21 am

just put an I in MNT for US MINT.

Posted from United States

By kevin | March 5th, 2006 at 3:24 pm

i can dig the ‘young guns’. how long until we’re not young anymore? i liked the other post….bryan’s ‘the six gun rangers’. i see some people with signs for ’sam’s army’. haven’t done the research, is this a fan group? not too keen on ‘army’ being part of a nickname, though.

By Karl | May 4th, 2006 at 3:04 pm

I was under the impression our nickname was “the stars and stripes.” But that does seem a little unimaginative.

My suggestion for a nickname is “the Gringos”. Or I guess slightly more correct would be “Los Gringos.” Now stay with me for a second, this nickname has potential despite it’s spanish flair. It would really stick it to our Mexican and other rivals south of the border. Plus the WNT could be “Las Gringas.” And the U-20s could be something like “Los poco Gringos.” This nickname has unlimited potential and it embraces our increasing hispnanic cutural influence.

Posted from United States

By eric | May 4th, 2006 at 4:51 pm

I am not good at this but since our country is all about Freedom I was thinking Freedom’s Eagle or Eagles of Freedom. Maybe someone who is better at this can run with that idea.

Posted from United States

By eric | May 4th, 2006 at 4:53 pm

oh and for the womens teams something like Libert’s ladies not as good maybe but something to work with.

Posted from United States

By Genius G | June 10th, 2006 at 2:48 pm

If we take a page from the worlds view of us, maybe
The Enforcers
would work. Sounds intimidating, but would spark some emotion from teams such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and any where else in the Middle East.

Posted from United States

By Tim | June 20th, 2006 at 2:38 am

Damn, you want something american and where we can scare people? How about “The Bison”. We can get Ted Nugent involved and use his song, “great white buffalo”. Nothing is more frightening than Uncle Ted. I can even picture legions of fans with bison heads screaming.

“Well,he got the battered herd.
He led em cross the land.
With the Great White Buffalo,
they gonna make a final stand.”

Posted from United States

By Badger | June 20th, 2006 at 2:58 am

I like Bison as a nickname. As far as I know, it’s an animal that is native to the USA and it ties in the Wild West theme. There’s already the Nigeria Super Eagles, so I think Bison is a good choice.

Posted from United States

By Roland | June 20th, 2006 at 3:05 am

Iron Eagles is too…fascist.

What about the Shooting Stars?

Bisons would be good if we hadn’t done such a good job of almost wiping them out.

Posted from United States

By Anything But Politics | June 23rd, 2006 at 8:33 pm

Nicknames

So the loss of the US National Soccer team against Ghana yesterday has me thinking to the future — what will become of our program in the next four long years (kinda how I felt in Nov. 2004) And lots of questions have arisen … like:
Who sho…

Posted from United States

By Nicknames at Anything But Politics | June 23rd, 2006 at 8:35 pm

[...] But those major soccer analysts are not the only ones with an opinion: there are a dozen suggestions in the comments (none I like very much) at the World Cup Blog and the best Soccer blog around We Call It Soccer suggests the Iron Eagles. As I am slowly moving out of depression mode, I am still drawing a blank. But this, I promise, you will be a much discussed topic atwhatever bar in philly I am in tonight — and I will be reporting back. [...]

Posted from United States

By Eros | January 2nd, 2008 at 8:21 pm

Someone explain to me why the heck the US should have Eagles in their Nickname? Cuz someone decided thats gonna be your national animal? so canada should be called, the beavers, lol. Think of a nickname that makes sense. Something that has to do with your flag.

Canada : Maple Leafs, Canucks
USA : ???

Posted from Canada