Wednesday, March 17, 2010

World Cup 2010 Blog: “World Cup 2010 Jerseys: Mexico” plus 1 more

World Cup 2010 Jerseys: Mexico

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 03:10 PM PDT

palancia We continue our review of World Cup 2010 kits with a look at what Mexico will be wearing in South Africa. As mentioned before, I have zero fashion credentials. Unless sitting through The Devil Wears Prada and finding it reasonably enjoyable counts. Which I’m pretty sure it doesn’t. But I can offer an honest reaction that hopefully stays away from being either too snarky or too serious.

Big news is that between World Cup 2006 and World Cup 2010, Mexico made the switch. The big switch. From Nike to adidas. So the home and away versions of their three stripe manufactured World Cup 2010 kits (as modeled very seriously by Francisco Palencia to the left there) can be found below.

Mexico Home Shirt

mexico home 2

- Want one? Find your Mexico World Cup 2010 home jersey in the World Cup Blog store.

If you’re thinking “that looks a bit plain” then I’d agree with you. At first glance anyway. Because after a few looks at the Mexico home shirt I’ve come to think of it as very clean and simple, in a good way. The green, white and red colours of El Tri are very clearly represented. Green body, red stripes on the shoulders, and white collar with a red trim. Everything just right. Except… my only complaint would be the armpits. As with all adidas World Cup 2010 jerseys, there’s a splash of colour under the arms. This works better with some jerseys than with others. Unfortunately the effect in this Mexico home jersey is that the wearer appears to bleeding from the armpits. Like maybe it’s on a bit too tight (which may be true in the case of Francisco Palincia, above. Go up a size man!)

Possibly the best thing about this jersey is the underlying pattern. As with the adidas South Africa jersey, the body of this Mexico jersey features a symbolic pattern. For South Africa it was the flag, for Mexico it’s feathers, which apparently represent the Eagle Warrior (the bravest in the Aztec army) and also the eagle on the Mexican Football Federation crest.

Mexico Away Shirt

mexico away

- You like? Find your Mexico away shirt in the World Cup Blog store.

Mexico’s away shirts have been white for as long as I can remember. But no more. For World Cup 2010 Mexico’s away jerseys will be black. It’s such a big change that you’ve got to admire the balls it took to make this decision. I’d say the black suits the feather motif nicely, and also helps the red and green elements stand out. Even better, armpits are green. So no armpit blood here. Only complaint is that the black design means there’s no room for white, and so one of the “El Tri” colours is missing.

What do you think of Mexico’s home and away kits for World Cup 2010?

Wavin’ Flag: The Song You’ll be Singing at World Cup 2010

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 09:30 AM PDT

You may as well have a good listen to this song now, because you’re going to be hearing much much more of it during World Cup 2010. It’s called “Wavin’ Flag” by Somalian-born Canadian-rasied hip-hop artist K’naan, and and is the official song of Coca-Cola’s World Cup 2010 campaign. For the record it’s NOT the official song of World Cup 2010. It just may as well be, given Coca-Cola’s prominence as World Cup sponsors.

For the fizzy pop and football version, K’naan is joined by Latin-Grammy winning Spanish pop singer David Bisbal for an Anglo-Hispanic version that’s intended to represent global unity. Might sound cheesy, but I’d argue that having one song that people of two languages can enjoy has to be a good thing. Unless you speak only French, German or Japanese.

As for the song itself… have a listen. Try and tell yourself you don’t like it. Then realize that the song is still playing in your head long after the above video has finished. Now wave your flag.

Thanks to Tomás Rodriguez of Something Like Football for sending the video to tips[at]theoffside.com