Uruguay (Home & Away 2019)

On to another South American power. Yes, I am gonna do all the South American teams first. Then, we will switch the continent. 🙂

Of the big three in CONMEBOL, Uruguay arguably had arguably the best decade. And I personally loved their revival. Yes, Chile may have won more titles, but in the end Uruguay was the most consistent team. Always surviving the group stage of the World Cup and even making it to the semis. In addition, they won the 2011 Copa America in their big rival’s backyard – Buenos Aires. And now, the competition is hosted by another rival. And Uruguay playing in Brazil? There was something …

In any case, Puma did release a new set of kits for the celeste celebrating not the triumph of 1950, but rather the win in 1987 (curiously in Argentina …). So, let’s see the home shirt first:

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  Uruguay 2019 Home shirt

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  Thailand-Uruguay 0-4 (Nanning, Mar 25, 2019)

Well, more or less what we expected: a light blue jersey – plain and simple. There is no sublimated motif, just a few golden Puma logos and white accents. Wait, white accents? Well, yes! This is what Uruguay was wearing back in 1987 and occasionally even in recent times. And overall, I do like the white form stripe along the shoulders, white sleeve cuffs and the white V-neck. And since the numbers are added in black, there is enough continuity carrying over to the black shorts and socks.

Let’s look at the details: As with the 2018 shirt, the V-neck is only accentuated on the front and the back in white. The form stripe comes down from the collar which leaves then two little gaps on the sides of the collar. Which is slightly odd. And the gold? Yes, it has featured before and is very subtly applied. But I do think that a little black would have done the shirt quite well.

So, yes it is a nice looking shirt, but it does lack a little bit of visual interest. And for that reason:

My rating: 7/10 stars.

Now, the away jersey is just what you would expect given the home jersey:

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  Uruguay 2019 Away shirt

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  Back side of the away shirt

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  Uzbekistan-Uruguay 0-3 (Nanning, Mar 22, 2019)

This is really just a color reversal: white for light blue and done. So, we can look at one further accent of this shirt: just below the collar both shirts have a Uruguay word mark. Very subtle and rather simple. Especially when comparing it to the font still in use for the numbers. Still cannot get over that.

Well, there really is not much more to it. Both jerseys remind me of the current Israel jerseys, but at least the home jersey is worn with black pants for added contrast. And so, it wouldn’t make sense to rate this jersey any different than the home jersey:

My rating: 7/10 stars.

How would you rate these shirts?

Uruguay (Away 2016-18)

Let’s stay in South America and look at the other Rio de la Plata nation, Uruguay who gives us the first Puma away jersey for this World Cup to look at. With Italy and other big nations under contract with Puma absent, this is more or less Puma’s marquee team.

Uruguay could once more be the box of candy of the tournament: not highly rated, but boasting quite some star power and then like in 2010 a favorable draw. Another semi-final is not entirely unthinkable here, but let’s not get too much ahead of ourselves here and look at the most recent Uruguay away jerseys, which are all as expected in white.

First, let’s look at the jersey designed for the Copa America Centenario and worn also in the latter stages of qualification:

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This is a very interesting shirt as it takes a traditional color scheme and making it special: In a way it takes the design from the Switzerland jersey, but does not extend the shoulder stripes to the collar, but rather leaves it alone. Maybe a blue outline could have been even better, but I like it. Then there is the golden outline, which debatable but fits in nicely with the golden outline around the crest. And then let’s make it special and add four blue hoops to the bottom of the jersey. In many ways this could look odd (and does a bit in conjunction with the shorts), but on this shirt it works very well as a reference to the national flag. I really love it. And then quite consistently, we add all logos and lettering in black. It all fits quite nicely together. I only wish the golden outline was dropped, but no biggie! As I said it would have looked even better with plain white shorts, but by itself it is glorious. Really love it!

My rating 9/10 stars.

Now, given the rather plain designs Puma has already issued on the home jersey, my hopes were not too high for the away ones:

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Well, plain it is! Very, very white and there is only the light blue collar which is again broken by the raglan sleeves. What makes it look even more white is the fact that the Puma cats are applied in gold and the crest is similarly outlined. So, the only truly visible feature on the front is the black number that really jumps out here. And there is not much to say about the back either: similar collar outline on the back and a little stripe with four blue stripes as a tiny reference to the national flag. And yes, the Puma font this year is once more abysmal after two decent tries. But at least it does stick out and is legible. Nothing horrible here, but too plain for my liking. You might call it boring especially compared to its predecessor.

My rating 6/10 stars.

How would you rate these shirts?