All Coast Sportsball

So it's still World Cup's Eve here in Honolulu and I figured what better way to kick off than to put who I believe should advance from each group. And what better way to decide than purely and solely based on which teams have the best kits. I split the posts into groups so that it wouldn't be too much to scroll through so this is just Group A. I would also like to preface this by saying in my everyday life, I actually PREFER NIKE over Adidas, but I think the latter outclassed the former in almost every kit design this year. I am also an Inter Milan FAN and really like the Blue and Black shirts this year, but boy did NIKE try to ruin them for me during this process. And finally, I had no qualms with Puma prior to this competition, I just think they bottled some kits with great potential and I may never forgive them. Anyway, here's group A:   Group A: Netherlands, Senegal, Ecuador, Qatar Netherlands: Group A's favorite in real life epitomizes pretty much what we see f...

  Here is Group B and probably my least favorite one I had to do. The USA reallly let me down here, and Wales was honestly the only team who even showed up. But here it is: Group B: United States, England, Wales, Iran United States of America: My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. 8 years, EIGHT YEARS I’ve waited for my country to play on the world’s biggest stage and this is what Nike does for its home nation. The white kit literally looks like an Arizona Wildcats away jersey and if you think I’m joking, here is a link to the Arizona Wildcats away jersey! It’s another example of what I’m calling the Inter collar and once again there is just nothing special about the kit that it occupies. But just wait because the white kit is not even the worst of it. Please don’t get me started on the tie dye… dammit I’m started! This warm up shirt lookin, plain havin ass is our blue kit. It’s terrible, arguably the worst kit I have ever seen from the US which historically does...

 Our first Group of Death! A couple nations come out SWINGING, with the two who fail to advance aren't even bad kits. I'm actually really excited to watch some of these match ups in real life for the kit aesthetics. Group C: Argentina, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia Argentina: Starting this group off with an absolute classic of a home kit, Adidas simply couldn’t mess it up and they didn’t (looking at you Puma). It’s just such a historic look with the baby blue and white stripes with Messi playing what is possibly his last World Cup. It’s enough to make a football romantic cry. Just you wait for Peter Drury to evoke said tears if we see these boys in the final. Their dark blue kit is interesting to say the least and brings the overall Argentine performance down just so slightly. I’m not saying it’s a bad jersey, because it isn’t. I actually don’t hate the pixel flames and I think the colors work pretty well, It’s just not my favorite in the competition. I think they tried somethin...

  After the great performances from group C we have two solid showings here, along with two pretty mediocre ones. Not the worst group but also not the best, here they are: Group D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia France:  The defending champs come out with a bit of a banger. Big fan of these kits! Nike has had a return to solid form in the past 3 outings, and thankfully for the French they are not in the kit group of death (although to be honest they may have had a case to advance even there). I really enjoy the use of the gold on the Navy shirt. I feel like it should be a thing that only returning champions can include gold on their kits; I feel like it would be a cool subtle reminder much like a star over the crest. That being said the gold just works here it looks great on the blue and it looks even better on the white. The red socks just give it that finishing touch. The white kit is also really strong on its own. Subtle blue accents form a nod to T oile de Jouy fabri...

 Probably the best group in the tournament. There are three really solid teams here all sponsored by Adidas. This is another group that I'm super excited to watch from a kit standpoint. Group E: Spain, Germany, Costa Rica, Japan Spain:  Spain comes back after an abysmal real-life performance in 2018 with a really solid kit. ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,’ and the Spanish red kit certainly ain’t broke. The away reds have always been class and this rendition makes no mistake. The blue stripes and the yellow badge come together to make something special. Paired with the navy pants I feel like I’m back in 2010 watching the final at 10 years old falling in love with sports (even though I was fully rooting for the Dutch).  The light blue kit is not quite at the same standard as the red, and we’ve seen this a couple times now where Adidas has completely perfected the classic national kit and then the other is just kind of there. I’m not saying I hate it, but that wave pattern ...

 This was a decent group, not a group of death or anything, but there were definitely a couple of real competitors here. This is our first real NIKE dominated group of the tournament. Group  F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia Belgium:  I’m not sure if I’m in the minority or not, but I absolutely loved the Christmas sweater look Belgium rolled out in 2018. And with this World Cup being played during the holiday season, it would have made even more sense this year.  It was very soon after these were dropped that someone pointed out that the sleeves on the red kit look like something on a Guy Fieri shirt and once you hear it, you can’t unsee it. However, they have kind of grown on me since that initial disappointment. Adidas has had a bit of a thing for flames this year with the Argentina kits and now these, and they make much more sense for Belgium in my opinion. They’ve always had that red devil mascot associated with their football team so flames make sense. I also...