New England 2014 World Cup Home & Away Kits Released – Very Stylish But Very, Very Plain (Photos)

Chris Wright

31st, March 2014

9 Comments

By Chris Wright

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They’re just about the last country to do so, but England and Nike have finally gotten round to unveiling the kits the brave, brave Three Lions will wear to crash out in the group stages of this summer’s World Cup – airing a new duo of strips; one plain white, one plain red; that look almost identical to the first pair of kits (home/away) Nike churned out for England last year, though with less fancy collars.

The home strip is subtly pinstriped and inspired by the revolutionary ‘Airtex’ kit England wore at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico while the red away kit, as ever, harks back to ’66.

Here they be (swipe or click the right-hand side of the gallery to cycle through)…

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Smart enough, but we’re not exactly blown away. Just a bit ‘meh’, is all.

You?

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Posted in Featured, International football, Kits & fashion, Newsnow, Photos, World Cup

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9 Comments

  1. Joe says:

    Like ’em.
    This is England. First footballing nation. First choice of colours.
    We’ll take white; a blank palate, or indeed a combination of all the other ‘showy’ colours. Change colours? Red. The primary’s primary colour. An aggresive colour of intent. A warning.
    The rest of the world can fight amongst themselves for whatever gaudy shade of stupid they see fit to dress their footballers in, and all the superflous trimmings they have to use to give it character.
    ROAR!

  2. Chris says:

    No no no….the dark blue shorts make the home kit look a million times better. The all white, its been done before by umbro and looked ridiculous if im honest. The away strip has at least some contrast.

  3. Joe says:

    @Chris

    I completely agree that the dark blue shorts are a miss – as are the red shirt numbers – but apparently FIFA have instructed all teams to wear one block colour when possible. Hence Germany, for example, will also be wearing all-white, which will look even stranger. Nike – ever the opportunists – have grasped onto this sartorial affront by claiming the new all-white kit is inspired by the kit they wore at Mexico ’70. The only memory anyone has of England in that tournament is Bobby Moore’s tackle on Pele, which was the only game they had to wear white shorts. Probably.

  4. The shorts should be navy and the numbers should be red.

    England only wore all-white against Romania and Brazil in ’70 (just like they did against Argentina in ’66) because those teams also wore blue shorts. All-white has never been their home kit.

    @Joe: I think people also remember Banks’s save from Pele, and England throwing away a two-goal lead against West Germany (but they wore red in that match).

    • Chris says:

      @James: FIFA have informally requested that teams play in one-colour strips to improve the quality of HD television pictures.

      Some countries have kow-towed, some haven’t.

  5. Bruno says:

    It’s nice but the Nike logo will always ruin it. I can’t associate class with Nike. It’s a beautiful shirt but when I see the Nike thing I suddenly remember an american basketball player in the 90s wearing big shoes and a kerchief. Also the font style (10/Rooney) is too modern.
    I don’t know… Umbro was better.

  6. @Chris: Yes, I know about FIFA’s request and it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Is their suggestion that suddenly TV viewers are struggling to differentiate between teams unless they’re wearing all one colour? If it wasn’t an issue in grainy black-and-white I don’t see why it is now in H-bloody-D. The fact that Brazil won’t have to wear all-yellow proves that it isn’t a TV issue at all, but merely a marketing ploy cooked up by some corporate minions in order to justify their own employment…

  7. chris says:

    90 quid for an England T shirt – didnt the government set a guideline for football shirt pricing?
    Thats way to high….

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