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
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’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.
Given that the World Cup is the granddaddy of the sport, you can hardly begrudge a country for doing everything short of selling out their grandmommy for a decent run.
So while you can’t really blame Mexico for bringing along their giant good luck charm, you’d have to think a lucky coin or a saint’s medal might be just as good. Those at least don’t require teams of movers rivaling the Egyptian pyramid builders.
As I’m sure you’ve figure out by now, an exact replica of that statue, El Ángel, which stands on a platform in Mexico City, will be the 24th…err…woman on the Mexican national team during the World Cup.
Mexican soccer fans often gather by the thousands at the 100-year-old statue in Mexico City after important victories, running circles around it and waving flags. Tourism Secretary Alejandro Rojas says shipping and diplomatic arrangements are underway to get the statue to Johannesburg. Once there, he said, it will be set up in a public space so fans from other nations also can gather by the statue.
We can only hope they mean the statue alone, rather than the entire monument:
Statue alone or not, I sense a real space problem in South Africa should this catch on – Christ the Redeemer alone might clear out Jo’burg.
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