Tag Archives: Mexico

2018 World Cup kit-tracker – knockout stages

17 Tuesday Jul 2018

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Second round

France 4 Argentina 3

2018-World-Cup-second-round-France-Argentina-01.png

Surprisingly, but refreshingly, both sides were allowed to wear their full first-choice kits with no alterations. Argentina exited the tournament having only used one goalkeeper kit.

Uruguay 2 Portugal 1

2018-World-Cup-second-round-Uruguay-Portugal-01

Spain 1 Russia 1 (aet, 3-4 on penalties)

2018-World-Cup-second-round-Spain-Russia-01

Russia’s home kit had match details in the middle but on the away, they were below the crest. The goalkeeper’s shirt followed suit for each game, meaning that Igor Akinfeev wore his blue (and green) kits with two different inscription versions.

Croatia 1 Denmark 1 (aet, 3-2 on penalties)

2018-World-Cup-second-round-Croatia-Denmark-01

With both of Denmark’s kits clashing with Croatia’s home, the two teams changed.

Brazil 2 Mexico 0

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In 2014, Mexico wore their away kit when the countries met in the group stage so it was nice to see both tri-coloured home strips here.

Brazil goalkeeper Alisson Becker switched to black, though his bright green was unlikely to have caused confusion with Mexico’s darker shade.

Belgium 3 Japan 2

2018-World-Cup-second-round-Belgium-Japan-01

This was certainly a match-up which would have resulted in one side changing kit in previous tournaments, but common sense continued to prevail in the knockout stages.

Sweden 1 Switzerland 0

2018-World-Cup-second-round-Sweden-Switzerland-01

Colombia 1 England 1 (aet, 3-4 on penalties)

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With Colombia continuing to favour white shorts and socks, England wore their alternative away shorts, as they had done against Tunisia.

Quarter-finals

Uruguay 0 France 2

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A fifth kit combination in as many games for France.

Brazil 1 Belgium 2

2018-World-Cup-quarter-finals-Brazil-Belgium-01

Sweden 0 England 2

2018-World-Cup-quarter-finals-Sweden-England-01

All-red for England again despite Sweden’s blue shorts – their kitman Pat Frost said that Fifa had ordered the change as Robin Olsen’s shorts were a light shade.

Russia 2 Croatia 2 (aet, 3-4 on penalties)

2018-World-Cup-quarter-finals-Russia-Croatia-01

The expectation might have been that Russia would have to change too, but they were allowed to wear their home shirts, with the proper socks back in action.

Semi-finals

France 1 Belgium 0

2018-World-Cup-semi-finals-France-Belgium-01

Another different combination for France, with the shorts changed too even though only the socks clashed. We’d have liked to have seen them in blue-white-white.

Croatia 2 England 1 (aet)

2018-World-Cup-semi-finals-Croatia-England-01

Despite being the away team, England were able to wear their home shirts, with the away shorts getting their first outing of the competition.

Croatia equalled France’s record from 2006 of wearing their change shirts for the fifth time.

Third-place play-off

Belgium 2 England 0

2018-World-Cup-third-place-play-off-Belgium-England-01

The outcome was the same as their group game but the visual was different as both teams wore their change kits, meaning England wore their proper away strip for the first time, their fourth different combination.

Final

France 4 Croatia 2

2018-World-Cup-final-France-Croatia-01

No seventh combination for France, but they won’t have minded. Croatia wore their home shirts for the first time since the Nigeria game, though again with white socks – along with Colombia, Egypt and Costa Rica, they didn’t get to wear their full first-choice outfit in the tournament.

World Cup Midweek Mashup – Mexico, 2014

12 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by in Change kits, Clashes, Kit history, World Cup Classics

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Some of the previous entries in this series have been mashups which actually looked more like a team’s traditional colourway than the default kit at the time – Inter Milan in 2016-17 for example or Germany at the 2016 European Championship.

One would think, therefore, that a Mexico kit with red socks would be in a similar vein, but what they wore against Croatia at the 2014 World Cup was very much out of the ordinary.

In their opening Group A game against Cameroon, they had worn their default home kit, which featured socks with a lot more white on them than usual.

Then, against hosts Brazil they were in their new away kit – while they generally go with white (as they did in this year’s competition), this time it was orangey-red and black.

For their final group game, against Croatia, they had to mix things up. There was a direct shorts-clash, which was solved by Mexico wearing their black away set. However, having worn their blue socks in the previous two games, here Croatia wore white, which were deemed to clash with Mexico’s primary set and so the North American side switched to the second set here too.

It made for an odd look, to say the least.

Mexico-2014-adidas-home-shirt-away-shorts-socks-Croatia-01

Nevertheless, Mexico didn’t let their unusual kit combination distract them and a 3-1 win earned them second place in the group.

Paired with the Netherlands in the last 16, they wore a third different sock-style, almost all-white, to avoid a clash with the Dutch orange. Unfortunately for them, they lost 2-1 as Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored an injury-time winner.

2018 World Cup kit-tracker – Group F completed

07 Saturday Jul 2018

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Germany 0 Mexico 1

2018-World-Cup-Group-F-Germany-Mexico-01

In contrast to Group E, four the Group F residents wear adidas and this was another game where, mercifully, both teams could wear their first-choice outfits.

Germany’s kit references the victorious 1990 strip, with stripes of three varying widths giving a grey effect. Perhaps fittingly, the champions patches began to peel off the German shirts during this game.

Mexico’s look also harked back to adidas days of old, though to a 1993-94 design they hadn’t themselves worn (they were Umbro at the time).

Sweden 1 Korea Republic 0

2018-World-Cup-Group-F-Sweden-South-Korea-01

Sweden’s smart kit has a very faint pattern featuring the diagonal parallelograms which were ubiquitous on adidas shirts in the 1980s. Their goalkeeper Robin Olsen wore the same colour-scheme as Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa, though with different colour neck, arm panels, shorts and socks.

According to Nike, Korea Republic’s away kit recognises the country’s global contributions. Preventing a nuclear war between the USA and North Korea until their leaders met is worthy of acknowledgement.

Korea Republic 1 Mexico 2

2018-World-Cup-Group-F-South-Korea-Mexico-01

In contrast to their imaginative away kit, Korea’s home was very plain/bland, depending on your viewpoint.

Mexico’s away was one of the best in the tournament, though if we were being picky we’d have preferred green or white shorts. Ochoa was in blue this time, with a mismatching baselayer.

Germany 2 Sweden 1

2018-World-Cup-Group-F-Germany-Sweden-01

Germany fell behind and teetered on the brink of elimination but Toni Kroos’ late winner kept them alive.

Their goalkeeper Manuel Neuer wore the same shirt as Olsen had against Korea, meaning the latter had to wear a dark grey and pink version.

The Sweden away shirt was in the same Condivo template used by a lot of other countries, with tonal stripes making up small squares.

Korea Republic 2 Germany 0

2018-World-Cup-Group-F-South-Korea-Germany-01

Rather than going all-white to solve the shorts-clash – perhaps surprisingly, given that it was what they wore as they won the 2014 competition – Germany gave their away kit an airing.

Unfortunately, it’s a strip which will be a associated with failure, as they were eliminated. The kit called to mind the 1990 change kit, but the design was unique. Neuer, caught in possession in the lead-up to the second Korea goal as Germany chased a lifeline, wore a third different kit, two tones of grey mixed with luminous green/yellow.

Mexico 0 Sweden 3

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Sweden’s 3-0 win meant they topped the group – with Germany’s defeat saving Mexico from an ignominious exit. The Swedes would face Switzerland while Mexico’s last-16 tie would be against Brazil.

2018 World Cup kit-tracker – Groups E and F

21 Thursday Jun 2018

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Costa Rica 0 Serbia 1

2018-World-Cup-Group-E-Costa-Rica-Serbia-01

Group E is the only one not to feature any team with adidas kits. Costa Rica wear New Balance and it’s a tidy design, with narrow tonal stripes across the front representing DNA.

Serbia were a late addition to the Puma stable, meaning they are wearing modified teamwear rather rather than a fully bespoke kit, but it’s still a nice offering, albeit with a mash of different shades of red.

Brazil 1 Switzerland 1

2018-World-Cup-Group-E-Brazil-Switzerland-01

Having worn white shorts so much at the last World Cup, it was good to see Brazil back in their traditional look, with the shorts a slightly lighter shade of blue than recent years. Incidentally, their goalkeeper Alisson Becker had no pattern on his sleeves, while Brazil’s frontal numbers are central, unlike the other Nike countries.

Switzerland’s shirts feature a topographical map of the country. Referee César Arturo Ramos of Mexico opted to wear long sleeves.

Germany 0 Mexico 1

2018-World-Cup-Group-F-Germany-Mexico-01

In contrast to Group E, four the Group F residents wear adidas and this was another game where, mercifully, both teams could wear their first-choice outfits.

Germany’s kit references the victorious 1990 strip, with stripes of three varying widths giving a grey effect. Perhaps fittingly, the champions patches began to peel off the German shirts during this game.

Mexico’s look also harked back to adidas days of old, though to a 1993-94 design they hadn’t themselves worn (they were Umbro at the time).

Sweden 1 Korea Republic 0

2018-World-Cup-Group-F-Sweden-South-Korea-01

Sweden’s smart kit has a very faint pattern featuring the diagonal parallelograms which were ubiquitous on adidas shirts in the 1980s. Their goalkeeper Robin Olsen wore the same colour-scheme as Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa, though with different colour neck, arm panels, shorts and socks.

According to Nike, Korea Republic’s away kit recognises the country’s global contributions. Preventing a nuclear war between the USA and North Korea until their leaders met is worthy of acknowledgement.

 

1970 World Cup – all of the kits

26 Saturday May 2018

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  • Note: ‘Primary’ obviously refers to a country’s first-choice kit, while ‘Alternative’ here means the main shirt with different shorts/socks, ‘Change’ is the second or third kit 
  • See here for Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, Group 4 and the knockout stages

Belgium

Brazil

Bulgaria

Czechoslovakia

El Salvador

England

Israel

Italy

Mexico

Morocco

Peru

Romania

Sweden

Uruguay

USSR

West Germany

Referees

1970 World Cup kit-tracker – Group 1

17 Thursday May 2018

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For the upcoming World Cup, we’re going to provide a daily kit-tracker, showing what the participating countries wear against each other, featuring outfield and goalkeeper kits as well as those of the officials.

As part of the build-up, we’ve been featuring notable strips from World Cups of old, and we’re ramping that up with retrospective kit-trackers from 1970 and 1990. First up is the 1970 Group 1, featuring hosts Mexico, USSR, Belgium and El Salvador.

Mexico 1 USSR 0

1970-World-Cup-kits-Mexico-USSR-01

Both countries in home kits. Referees for the competition wore their own kits (FIFA provided breast patches), with West German Kurt Tschenscher essentially donning a zip-up jacket.

El Salvador 0 Belgium 3

1970-World-Cup-kits-El-Salvador-Belgium-01

For reasons best known to themselves, Belgium had long-sleeved shirts, not ideal for the Mexican heat. This was actually their away kit, with all-white favoured as the first choice, while goalkeeper Christian Piot’s jersey had a cummerbund effect.

Belgium 1 USSR 4

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While both sides had worn white shorts when Mexico played the USSR, here the Soviets changed to navy. The Umbro logo was placed near the top of the Belgium shorts.

Mexico 4 El Salvador 0

1970-World-Cup-kits-Mexico-El-Salvador-01

A shorts and socks change for El Salvador, with Calderón switching from white to red. Note the shirt of referee Ali Kandil from the United Arab Republic – no white collar and rare short sleeves.

USSR 2 El Salvador 0

1970-World-Cup-kits-USSR-El-Salvador-01

Chilean referee Rafarl Hormazábal Díaz wore the older-style jacket with white shirt underneath.

Belgium 0 Mexico 1

1970-World-Cup-kits-Group-1-Belgium-Mexico-01

We presume Mexico’s change to their second kit was to avoid a shorts-clash. It meant a third different shirt for Mexico goalkeeper Ignacio Calderón, while his opposite number Piot may have expected Mexico to be in green, hence his orange top.

 

World Cup Classics – Mexico, 1998

27 Tuesday Mar 2018

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I’ll be honest, I had to look up exactly how far Mexico went in the 1998 World Cup.

I’m sure, like many around my age, the memory which came instantly to mind on recalling their performance was the Cuauhtemiña trick, brought to a wider audience by winger Cuauhtémoc Blanco – where two defenders could be evaded by trapping the ball between his ankles and jumping through the gap.

Of course, adding to the memorability was the kit, produced by ABA Sport, which featured a version of the Aztec Calendar across the shirt. It was certainly love-or-hate, but the passage of time has definitely helped it gain a cult status.

Mexico wore their home kit in their opener, a 3-1 win over South Korea, and their exit, the 2-1 last-16 loss to Germany. Just in case the pattern didn’t give away which team was wearing the shirt, as well as the crest the Mexicans had their flag on the right shoulder and the country name just above the number.

The swirling shorts stripes were quite nice, but the flag and ‘Mexico’ added to the busy-ness. We generally like horizontal stripes on socks but the mass of white lines at the bottom seemed out of place.

Mexico-1998-camiseta-ABA-Sport-Copa-Mundial-Blanco-01

The away strip followed the same style, though with red as the secondary colour and green almost absent from the shirt. The only time it was worn in its intended format – with green shorts – was by goalkeeper Jorge Campos in the South Korea game, though.

Despite red shirts v green shirts being allowed in that match, Mexico changed against Belgium and the Netherlands. There was a sock-clash to sort against Belgium, but green-white-white would have sufficed. Against the Dutch, both sides were in white shorts (that happened as well when the Netherlands played South Korea, who wore blue-white-blue).

 

Making something of a mockery of the fact that Mexico wore white in their latter two group games was that fact that Campos wore the home shirt. While he was provided with two bespoke kits, blue and yellow, the netminder – who had provided a sensory overload at USA 94 and sometimes moonlit as a striker – opted to pair the shorts from those outfits with the green top – yellow against Belgium and blue against Holland – and white away socks.

 

Mexico came from 2-0 down to draw with the Netherlands, Luis Hernández scoring an injury-time equaliser which meant they finished level on points though they had a worse goal difference.

As a result, Germany were the second-round opponents and, with Campos unable to wear the away shirt, one of the ‘proper’ goalkeeper tops – a badge-engineered Nike offering – finally saw some action.

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https://twitter.com/marqo51/status/978685884567494656

Midweek Mashup – Bulgaria, 1994

19 Wednesday Jul 2017

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In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bulgaria’s adidas home kit tended to consist of white shirts with red trim and green shorts with white trim.

For the 1994 World Cup in the USA, adidas changed tack with green the very prominent secondary colour on their new template style.

The change kit was the usual red with white trim but, while in the past the away shirt was often paired with the home shorts and socks, now it had white shorts and red socks.

Having never previously won a game at a finals, Bulgaria beat both Greece and Argentina to qualify from their group, in second place behind Nigeria (Argentina beat the African side, meaning all three countries finished level on six points).

Bulgaria’s opponents in the second round were Mexico, who also came out of a tough group – all four sides had finished on four points, with goals scored the determining factor as Italy and Ireland progressed and Norway missed out.

The game with Mexico provided a good example of dealing with what we would term the ‘overall clash’ – where the two shirts can be worn against each other, but some shorts combinations can add to the confusion.

With Bulgaria’s white-green-white up against Mexico’s green-white-red, there was the potential for a problem. Counter-intuitively, though, FIFA determined that the creation of a shorts-clash, i.e. Bulgaria in all-white, albeit with the shorts stripes mismatching those on the shirts and socks, was the best solution.

Bulgaria-adidas-1994-home-shirt-away-shorts-World-Cup-Mexico-01

Bulgaria won the game on penalties and things got even better in the quarter-finals as, wearing their red away kit, they beat Germany 2-1. Italy eliminated them at the semi-final stage, but it has gone down as a very successful summer.