- Thanks to Rodrigo Lara Weisson for flagging this with us
It’s just over a year since the current Colombia change kit was launched, though of course opportunities to use it have been rare until recently.
The strip’s first outing was against Ecuador last year – the default kit was used as the home side wore white shorts and socks – and it appeared in the World Cup qualifier away to Chile last month, too. With a blue shorts-clash to sort, they could have worn change white shorts, which were popular under previous manager Jose Pekerman, but Chile’s white socks meant that Colombia would have had to appear in yellow shirts, white shorts and red socks and they decided against that.
With Carlos Queiroz now in charge, Colombia are once again wearing their traditional format of yellow shirts, blue shorts and red socks at home (well, recently traditional – yellow didn’t become the first-choice shirt colour until the 1990s). That was the combination seen in their two home qualifiers to date, against Venezuela and Uruguay but their game away to Ecuador on Tuesday night saw a change, in more than one sense.
While Ecuador changed shorts and socks last year, this time they were in their first kit. Generally, Ecuador have the same layout as Colombia, reflecting their flag, but the current home strip has a darker shade of blue and no red socks (and gold details on the shorts and socks, presumably referencing the new crest). While none of the respective elements of the Colombia away strip clash with their counterparts on the Ecuador home, the kit in its default form would have caused a clash and so Colombia wore alternative shorts and socks – though both of an older vintage.
The white shorts with navy stripes and lower leg panel which were favoured at the 2018 World Cup have been retained as a back-up pair for the home and were used against South Korea last year. While the number may appear orange – calling to mind the 2018 away, which had blue or orange shorts options – it in fact comprises two red lines surrounded by yellow. While it might seem odd to use ‘old’ shorts, there is at least some logic to the shorts, but the socks are even more usual – they were the set used by Colombia in the 2016 Copa America, when a special home shirt was worn.
Given that Ecuador won 6-1, the blue-white-white look may now be considered unlucky but, given that the other South American country with whom they clash, Brazil, have white socks, the colour combination is unlikely to be seen again very soon.
