We still can’t quite work out why they did it, but when Mexico ditched their usual green and wore all black kits for this summer’s Gold Cup tournament, they gave us one of the most memorable shirts of 2019.
Nobody can accuse Adidas of playing it safe with this year’s Mexico shirts, and the darker design starred in a triumphant CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign over the border in the good ol’ US of A.
El Tri scored a glut of goals on the way to the final where they defeated arch-rivals and hosts the United States, 1-0 in Chicago to lift their 8th Gold Cup crown.
Mexico first painted it black as Copa America guests back in 2015, but this change in home colours still represents a radical departure from their established look.
Mexican football shirts have a habit of being a little bit weird, and Adidas’ 2019 shirts looked like a flickering, detuned television viewed between venetian blinds.
That’s not to say we didn’t like it!
The black shirts’ hooped effect sat atop an Aztec pattern referencing the balls used at Mexico ’86 and held plenty of Mexican flavour including sleeve trim details in green, white and red and a tag on the back declaring “Hecho en Mexico” (Made in Mexico).
Traditionalists will cry foul and complain about Mexico and Adidas selling their souls for shirt sales but we all know they wouldn’t do it if there wasn’t a real demand for something different.
The tribal trickery of Mexico’s all-black kit split certainly split opinion but will forever be associated with Gold Cup victory in the back yard of their greatest rivals.
We’re sure we’ll see Mexico go back to black in the future!
Sartorial Soccer 