Once again, thanks to the fine folks at Footy Headlines, we’ve got our hands on the latest and greatest 2018 FIFA World Cup gear leaks. Today’s news is big: It’s the Adidas Nemeziz Messi 18 World Cup cleats — yes, the cleats Lionel Messi will be wearing in Russia come June.
On the men’s soccer side of things, China hasn’t had much to cheer about in some time. They didn’t come close to qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, and recent China Cup defeats to Wales and the Czech Republic by a combined scoreline of 10-1 tell you everything you need to know about the world’s 65th-ranked side.
Brazil will approach the World Cup in the shadow of its catastrophic 7-1 semifinal defeat to Germany from 2014, but the Seleção has gradually let the light back in with its gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games and remarkable run through CONMEBOL qualifying.
After losing its opening match against Chile, Brazil went undefeated over the following 17 games, recording 12 wins and five draws while scoring 41 goals and allowing only nine. Accordingly, Brazil is worthy of its FIFA ranking of No. 2 and Elo ranking of No. 1.
In Antoine Griezmann, Alex Lacazette, Anthony Martial, Olivier Giroud, Dimitri Payet, Ousmane Dembele, Nabil Fekir, Kylian Mbappe, Kevin Gameiro and the ostracized Karim Benzema, France possess 10 forwards that, if hypothetically American, would waltz into the discussion of the greatest U.S. attacker of all-time.
It’s an embarrassment of attacking riches, especially when coupled with the dreamy midfield play of players like Paul Pogba, Thomas Lemar, Kingsley Coman and Corentin Tolisso.
The latest images of Mexico’s Adidas away jersey for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia have surfaced, and it looks as though El Tri will be fittingly representing their nickname when wearing their away strips.
The design features a bold horizontal chest stripe showcasing the flag of Mexico tricolors of green, white and red, as well as green Adidas stripes on the shoulders. The back of the shirt collar, like the home design, features a “soy méxico” message.
Goalkeepers are a different breed from the rest of us. It’s bad enough they’re allowed to use their hands and train in the weirdest ways imaginable, but they also have a crazy fashion sense. In addition to being able to wear pants and oversized gloves, goalies with hats have long been a part of the game, though it’s not as common these days. So we thought it would be a good idea to look back at goalkeepers who wore caps to remind everyone of just how weird goalkeepers are.
Tees of All Time founder Carlos Velasquez moved from Bogota, Colombia, to Los Angeles, California, at the age of 15. Despite growing up in a soccer-mad country, Carlos’s interest in the game only peaked during Colombia's run to the 2014 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals.
There have been so many great World Cup jerseys in the tournament's 88-year history that it's hard to make a list. However, we chose some of the most stunning kits, for each taking into consideration its originality, beauty and representation of a country's culture and soccer tradition.
Read on and let us know: which is your favorite jersey and/or which ones did we miss?
USSR 1966