The Kits - Group C

Group C I have found that I don’t really care what somebody has to say about predicting a winner. The whole “I told you so” argument is not interesting to me, and the chance that some dope sitting in a booth somewhere in a bar has some special seeing power that can influence the game is preposterous. Who knows who will come out of this group of death? I don’t, but I hope there is some good football played. I’d like to see Holland make it, but Italy seems like they have all the tools for success.

Netherlands

Italy

France

Italy has their kits designed by Puma. I have been disappointed with their uniforms these past few years. Italy is one of the best performers on the big stage yet I feel their uniforms are almost cheap looking. The  '08- '09 home strip is fine with its simple design and gold trim. It’s way better than the ugly 2006 kit with the dumb black shading highlights they wore when they won the World Cup. Not into their away kit with the collar and gold trim. Like the Austria kit they have squeezed the Italian flag into the ‘v’ neck. I fear the away kit it a bit too nouveaux-retro or something. If they had thick all-black ankle boots they’d look fine, but with the current crop of rainbow colored soccer cleats they will just look silly.

There are two European national teams that I will always root for, and one is the Netherlands. Their last 2006 away kit made it into my personal collection. It all came together just right for me. I’m lukewarm on the Euro 2008 kits. The home uniform has the well known oranje color. I like the pentagonal shape of the crest, and the flag stripe around the neck is kind of cool—but it’s not that amazing. The away uni is an interesting twist. Not too many teams go with light blue. I’m sure there is some simple reason for this color choice (or perhaps a convoluted one), but either way I’m not entirely sold on it. A nice little flag stripe across the chest, and the crest is now a white image on blue. Maybe it’s because I am still holding a torch for last year’s model—but the blue does not do it for me. Still I hope they go far.

Romania has a cool uniform. I don’t know if it’s just that I like the color combination of their national flag, or something else, but the home kit’s nice, not too bright yellow with red and blue trim warms the heart of Kit Aesthetics. Another thing that gets me excited is that they have a left back named Răzvan Raţ. How cool is that? Apparently there are not very many people in the English speaking part of the world that actually want to buy a Romanian away uniform, but you can kind of see what they look like on the team’s home page. Kind of a cool, spacey team crest too.

France is another team that has mixed up their normal away uniforms. The home bleu kit is well-known, and I don’t like it all that much for this tournament. The fake shading thing always bugs me. Normally white, the French national team has mixed it up with a red away kit. Once again I am not very into the weird light wavy shadow effect, but I like the blue and red stripes on the shoulder and the way the neck line looks.

Photos:
soccerpro.com

Chris Ketcham is our resident expert on the pros and cons of soccer style. He'll be reviewing the kits of every Euro 2008 team over the next couple of weeks. Email him at chris.ketcham@gmail.com.