Tag Archives: Brazil

Best XI: The finest football kits the World Cup has ever seen 

For fans across the globe, the colour, excitement and sheer sensory spectacle of the World Cup was the watershed moment when their youthful interest became a fevered obsession.

Every 4 years our planet comes together to watch 4 weeks of drama played out on grass and we know that come July 15th, history will have been made in Russia as magnificent new memories are burned onto our retinas.

Iconic international football shirts of yesteryear have become part of our sporting culture and Adidas have signalled a return to individual bespoke designs rather than the functional uniformity of recent tournaments with their kits for Russia 2018 holding a decidedly retro feel.

There is of course a link between glory and romance as the colours we remember are often worn by the players like Pele, Cruyff and Maradona who inspired the next generation of World Cup heroes.

So before we take the road to Nizhny Novgorod, here’s a nostalgic run down of the finest 11 sets of kits the World Cup has ever seen.

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Alcides Ghiggia: Remembering the man who silenced the Maracana

  • Alcides Ghiggia died 65 years to the day his goal won the 1950 World Cup for Uruguay
  • Ghiggia was oldest living World Cup winner
  • Played club football for Penarol, AS Roma, AC Milan and Danubio
  • Represented Italy as well as his native Uruguay

ON THURSDAY 16th JULY, Alcides Ghiggia’s heart beat its final beat, his lungs drew their final breath and his eyes closed for a final time. According to his son, in the final moments preceding his death, he had been talking about football.

At the age of 88, Ghiggia’s passing prompted Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez to declare 3 days of national mourning in his honour.

Sixty-five years ago to the day of his death, in the final match of the 1950 World Cup, those lungs and that heart had propelled Ghiggia’s 5′ 6″ frame and match-stick thin legs into the penalty area of the newly built Maracana stadium.

With ten minutes to go, and with Brazil only needing a point to be crowned World Champions, two nations held their breath:
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Top 20 footballers on Twitter

Forget the WAG, Bentley or Ballon D’or, the must have accessory for today’s footballer is a Twitter account with more followers than the Pope or the Dalai Llama.

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Colombia: An altered image 20 years on from Escobar

Colombia face host nation Brazil in the Quarter Finals of the World Cup tonight, in possibly the biggest game of their footballing history; the game taking place 20 years and 2 days after defender Andrés Escobar was shot dead having scored the own-goal which eliminated his team from the 1994 World Cup in the USA.

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It’s just like watching Brazil: Diego Costa and the expat players returning home

The World Cup begins on Thursday evening in São Paulo with hosts and 5 times champions, Brazil, taking on a Croatian side with 2 members of their squad returning to the land of their birth.

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