Well. y'know, I'm not seeing so many footballers dressed as jockeys so far in the 2018 World Cup, but Saturday evening's game, Nigeria vs Croatia could change everything. Purportedly Nigeria sold more than three million of their fresh Nike designed shirts in the lead up to the World Cup. Other football association commercial departments have surely taken note. Over the next view years we can anticipate the red, white and blue vomited guilelessly over Harry Kane's shoulders as the FA makes amends for the conservative crap they put the English team out in this time out. There's always a touch of the Dads Army about the England national team. The eternal heritage thing England does.
The Super Eagles hit shirt tips its hat to the original soccer disco shirt, the Man United blue away kit from 1990. Oh those heady days when Ryan Giggs was still in the game. Young people thought drugs we cool. And what we now call dance music was invented in the UK at raves. Ironically, that United shirt designed was by Adidas, with whom Nigeria maintained a decade long commercial partnership which can't have been totally great since it was dissolved in 2014 only for Nike has step in with something so suitable for the Carnival of Football even Serena Williams could consider it. Oh in tennis tournaments not so besotted with heritage costumes for their participants. Serena and her sister make tennis worth tuning in to just to see what they're wearing. Then stay for the tennis.
Meanwhile Croatia's cubist creation is no design slouch either. Again, they've chosen Nike to deliver and oh boy they have with abandon and aplomb. They have history.
There's not much else to look at. Peru? Back in the finals for the first time since 1970 or something, actually 82, Spain, if you desaturate the screen what with that red slash across their pale white shirts, you could be in the Orange lodge Gym class. On speed of course.
The pundits, nothing is loose, everything looks starched. And some of those top buttons are pretty superfluous too.
I am hopeful, always hopeful that some countries at this wold cup will eschew stuffy tracksuit tops in favour of lightweight cloaks for those balmy Russian evenings, but none of that so far. Polo shirt collars and buttoned up neck bits are out this year. As they should be every year. And nothing like Farcical French shirts from 2000.
Reasons to be cheerful.
