Brazil in the World Cup 2010

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Japan Football Association.

Main players: Shunsuke Nakamura and Keisuke Honda.

Fifa ranking (April 2010): #45

Japan finished the Asian Qualifying with 15 points, behind Australia (20 points), South Korea (16 points) and ahead of North Korea (12 points).

Japan is in Group E of World Cup 2010 and will play the first three matches against: Cameroun (June 14th), Holland (June 19th) and Denmark (June 24th).

Japan Team Roster:

Goalkeepers: Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale), Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata)

Defense: Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F-Marinos), Tulio (Nagoya Grampus), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Daiki Iwamasa (Kashima Antlers), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers)

Midfield: Shunsuke Nakamura (Yokohama F-Marinos), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), Junichi Inamoto (Kawasaki Frontale), Yuki Abe (Urawa Reds), Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg/Germany), Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscou/Russia), Daisuke Matsui (Grenoble/France)

Forward: Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse), Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus), Yoshito Okubo (Vissel Kobe), Takayuki Morimoto (Catania/Italy), Kisho Yano (Albirex Niigata)

Coach: Takeshi Okada.

CBF and Nike presented today the new yellow Brazilian jersey for the World Cup 2014; the uniform will be worn for the first time in the match against Ireland, on March 2nd.

This new uniform is eco-friendly, made of recycled polyester; each jersey is, according to CBF, recycled from eight PET bottles.

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The design was inspired in the uniform of the World Cup 1970; the collar is green and round; there is a green strip on each shoulder, with small perfurations to allow transpiration.

Talking about easy transpiration, Nike used the same Dri-fit technology in the fabric, but made it 13% lighter; Dri-fit technology forces sweat to the external side of the shirt, keeping players drier and with a lower body temperature.

Nike improved also on the ventilation zones in either side of the jersey, as well as in the area below the waist; there are now about 200 laser drilled small holes, with a reinforcement patch to prevent tearings, which increase air flow by up to 7% compared to the previous design, with 10% more elasticity.

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In the back of the collar there is a tag with the inscription “Brasil”, and in the inner collar there is a tag with a small Brazilian flag and the inscription “Nascido para jogar futebol”, meaning “Born to play football”. In the back of the CBF badge (i.e., on the heart of the players), there is an inscription “Com muito orgulho, com muito amor”, meaning “With much pride, with much love” (a kind of anthem that the Brazilian crowd loves to sing, which goes: “I am Brazilian, with much pride, with much love” – see video below).

The matching shorts are in blue Royal, with a white strip in each side, again inspired in the 1970 team; in the inner side of the waist line there are five stars sewed in white.

Socks are white, with a green stripe, and the world “Brasil” in each side.

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Yesterday, Spain won Argentina by 2 x 1 in a friendly match; the Spaniards are set to finish the year with a memorable campaign (update: later on the year, Spain would earn the top position in FIFA ranking, and would be considered the top favorite to win the World Cup).

But the main star of the match wasn’t any of the teams or players: it was the introduction of the new jersey of Spain for the World Cup 2010 (the whole world want to wear the uniform of the World Cup champion).

Spain uniform is manufactured by German Adidas. The jersey maintained the predominance of red, with details in yellow and blue along shoulder, sleeve and neck areas. This shirt is paired with blue shorts.

The former Spain uniform had fine yellow vertical strips and very little blue (smaller photo).

The new uniform seems to attempt a revival of the 80s, when jerseys looked simpler.

Respected Brazilian newspaper Jornal do Brasil, an affiliated of Terra, published a report informing that the uniform of the Brazilian team was elected the most beautiful of all times; Terra cited a survey conducted by British newspaper Daily Mail among fashion specialists in Britain, but didn’t provide any link to this supposed survey.

These would be the most beautiful uniforms of all time:
1 – Brazil Team
2 – Real Madrid
3 – Ajax
4 – Leeds United (1973)
5 – Hull City (1994)
6 – Barcelona
7 – English Team
8 – Arsenal (1992)
9 – Crystal Palace (1980)
10 – Coventry City (1978)

The Brazilian uniform is made by Nike, which is also one of the sponsors of the team. The Brazilian jersey is one of the most popular sports attire in the world, which causes CBF and Nike to be very cautious to make changes.

The latest revision of the uniform was released for the season 2007/08 (see CBF page); this uniform was inspired in the World Cup 1958, the first one which Brazil won; the Brazilian team worn this uniform in the Confederation Cup 2009.

CBF and Nike still haven’t announced a new uniform for the World Cup 2010, but that is very likely to happen anytime soon; for the Germany World Cup, the new uniform was announced in February 2006, only four months before the opening of the event.