Midweek Mashup – Brazil, 2012

After the ill-fated ‘download bar’ home kit of 2011 and the blue-green change strip, it was a case of back to basics for Brazil in 2012.

Both the home and shirts followed the same design, featuring subtle trim on the neck and not-so-subtle cuffs, but overall they were good, solid designs.

One notable change from the norm was the decision to go with blue shorts, trimmed in yellow, on the second kit.

While that look referenced the alternative outfit, made by adidas, seen at the 1988 Olympics, it would not actually see any action for the men’s senior team. Instead, they wore the more traditional-looking white shorts in all but one of the games where the blue shirts appeared.

When the kits were first leaked in a Brazilian newspaper in September 2011, the illustration of the home shirt and both sets of blue shorts set off a giddiness among some of us in the kit community that the blue/yellow pair would be used when Brazil had to use the blue socks with the home shirt, but that did not materialise, either. Instead, the kit combinations for most of their games were the most recognisable ones.

We did mention an exception and that came on September 7, 2012, when Brazil welcome South Africa to São Paulo for a friendly international.

In that game, Brazil did wear blue shirts and blue shorts – but the shorts were those from the kit, with the white stripe.

Given that South Africa were in their change kit too, one possible theory for the situation was that Brazil had intended to wear their home shirts but the referee took issue with the levels of yellow on the visitors’ strip.

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Whatever the reason, it was the only instance where the senior side wore those shirts with something other than white shorts.