Max Aquino / Sounder at Heart

The bracket fun continues with the Solids & Tonal Styling quadrant.

With voting already underway for the first round in the Goalkeepers portion of the bracket, we now must turn our attention to the other side of the bracket with the Solids & Tonal Styling quadrant of the bracket. This group was chosen based on a shared characteristic with the outfits featured, all of them representing an example of tonal styling — using one color as the color palette, but using multiple tones of that one color, to create a complete look — or styling using only solid colors.

Now let’s get to picking!

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Solids & Tonal Styling

#1 The Cozy Assassin vs. #8 The Purple ‘keeper Eater

Sometimes it’s not about the flashiness or extravagance of what you do, it’s about doing it perfectly. This all-black look from Nico Lodeiro is exceptional in its simplicity, and that scarf alone is reason enough to give him the #1 seed in my mind. Raúl Ruidíaz, on the other hand, likes to stand out. This look from him is pretty simple, but that purple crewneck is always going to grab your attention.

#2 Jordan Morris in Grayscale vs. #7 The Fastest Dressers

There’s a lot of Jordan Morris in this whole bracket - there was almost enough to give him his own quadrant - but this, the first look of his from 2019, is a masterclass in simple styling. Each individual piece is excellent, and they all work and fit together perfectly. Anyone could easily pull off this exact look, earning it the #2 seed in this group. The Jordan Morris+Brad Smith combo is good, solid, respectable, but nothing really stands out. Jordan’s boots are really nice, and the boots and skinny jeans thing was extremely trendy, but it’s not enough to earn a higher seed than #7.

#3 Rolling Blackout Raúl Ruidíaz vs. #6 Román Torres’s Sunglasses

Raúl Ruidíaz looks like the villain in an ‘80s movie that’s set at a mountain resort. The protagonist has to beat him in a downhill race to win back his girlfriend and save the resort from being demolished, and I mean that in the best possible way. This look isn’t anywhere close to anything that I could or would wear, but he makes it work so well. On the other side of this match-up is Román Torres, whose style can probably best be described as “doing the most.” There’s not a lot visible in this particular example, but the fact that he’s got his look toned down really allows his sunglasses to be the star of the outfit. It’s good, but not incredible, hence the #6 seed.

#4 Brad & the Goose vs. #5 Ennuicolas Lodeiro

Brad Smith and Gustav aren’t doing anything wild or attention-grabbing here, but their very simple, approachable looks are pulled off really well. Both of their jackets - Brad’s shirt-jacket and Gustav’s rain jacket - are really nice individual pieces, and Gustav’s sage-colored tee is a great little pop of muted color. It’s simplicity being executed at a high level. Nico, for his part, is rocking a solid look - the fit’s all great, and it’s hard to go wrong with black and gray - but again there’s just nothing that really elevates it to the next level. I also admittedly don’t love his beanie, which may be why this look isn’t higher.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the next round of voting in the Color-blocking & Prints group. If you haven’t already done so, you can see and vote on yesterday’s group here. As always, leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments!