Argentina (Home 2014)

Let’s look at another one of the big favorites: Argentina’s albiceleste. Despite not having reached the semifinal of the World Cup since 1990 and not having won any tournament since 1993, the team selected by coach Sabella again enters the tournament as one of the big contestants. And with a fire-power that is pretty much unparalleled anywhere else in the world, Argentina truly poses a threat to any opponent. However, for a deep run into the tournament a more solid defense will certainly be needed.

The current Argentina home jersey is the classic white-light blue striped jersey we are expecting with the stripes in the appropriate medium width and have a color gradient built in making the stripes lighter towards the bottom. It also features a few more black accents than usual, namely in form of the V-collar, the shoulder stripes and the sleeve trims. The sleeves are just white, making the jersey look somewhat like the classic 1990 jersey.  On the front, the Adidas logo is placed on the right chest with the updated AFA crest on the left. While not much has been done to the crest itself, I find the surrounding shield with its two-color tone a bit childish. Also, the way the shield gets narrower towards the top makes the entire crest appear to be at an angle similar to the famous Star Wars opening crawl. The black front number is centered.

The back continues with the striping pattern from the front. However, above the golden arc (why not black?) the shirt is just blue which extends under the three shoulder stripes. In that blue area, there is also an alternate logo of the AFA. The color gradient starts a bit lower on the back continuing a descending pattern from the front. Names and numbers are appropriately applied in black.

Likelihood of being featured: 100%
vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina: 99% (Should be 100%, but I leave 1% just to allow for some error)
vs. Iran: 99% (Same as above)
vs. Nigeria: 99% (Same as above)

In principle, this is the best Argentina jersey in a while. Some may claim that the stripes are too narrow or that the center stripe is blue, but considering past jerseys, this one fits actually nicely in with the classics. The use of black here is somewhat unusual, but this may be a way of making up the fact that the jersey was not released with the customary black short. Instead Argentina (like Germany) will wear white shorts instead. If the shorts were part of my rating, I would think lower here.

My rating: 8/10 stars.

How do you rate this shirt?