2014 World Cup Jersey Power Rankings

21) Ivory Coast

cotedivoire

The main element of interest here is the Mighty Elephant badge that adorns the traditional orange shirt.  Again though, more shoulder embossments give this shirt a bit of an identity crisis.

20) USA

usa

The USMNT shirt looks great… for a golf polo.  As a soccer shirt, it once again has the makings of an England knock-off.  There’s little here that’s distinguishable except for the very subtle hints of red, white, and blue.  Past efforts have at least had a character all their own.  At the other end of the spectrum, the away kit seen against Azerbaijan is a loud brute of a jersey.  Hopefully, we’ll see this kit survive the group of death, though.

19) Mexico

mexico

Mexico’s shirt is certainly much more active than their CONCACAF rivals to the north.  The jersey  is unique in that the badge is located in the center of the shirt with the colors of El Tri focusing your attention onto it in a lightning bolt pattern.  I have a feeling this will be a pretty polarizing shirt, so it falls in the midpack.

18) Germany

germany

When you think of Germany’s jerseys, the most well-known trivia fact is the away green shirt they have worn off and on for a number of years.  The legend goes that it’s a tribute to Ireland, who was their first opponent when returning to world soccer after World War II, but it turns out that may not be the case.  The home uniform has traditionally been white with black trim and this year features an overpowering chevron with varying shades of red.  Germany will also wear all white for the first time since they won the 1974 World Cup.  As for the away kit, the Flamengo inspired shirt is a very clever choice for the tournament in Brazil.

17) Australia

australia

The classic green and gold of the Aussies is the defining factor here, and possibly the only identifiable factor.  As you’ll see with the many other Nike designs in the tournament, it is understated to the extreme, but it certainly provides the jersey with an element of class.

16) South Korea

southkorea

Like Australia, South Korea’s entry is very simple and straight forward.  In fact, the highlight here for the Taegeuk Warriors is the fantastic badge featuring a white tiger, one of the best in the competition.

15) Spain

spain

The defending World Cup champions get the privilege of the golden badge adorning their jersey for the 2014 tournament, but I can’t but help to feel a bit bittersweet about it since it’s just a bit off from the shade of yellow it has been.  However, that’s nothing in comparison to Spain wearing an all red kit instead of their usual blue shorts and breaking 90 years of tradition!  Hopefully nobody gets confused and thinks they’re actually Turkey.

14) Russia

russia

The maroon color for the Russian jersey is sharp, but it’s not necessarily a color you would associate with the country.  In fact, Russia only started going to maroon shirts in 2009 and went back to the more traditional red at Euro 2012.  Oh well, the shirt color doesn’t make much of a difference to Putin anyways.

13) Italy

italy

Italy’s trademark blue shirt hasn’t changed much at all over the years.  The delineating factors for the 2014 version are the traditional collar and the country’s flag on the cuffs.

12) Portugal

portugal

For a team that stars Cristiano Ronaldo, you can bet Portugal was going to go bold with their 2014 shirt design.  The result is a very modern looking jersey that features varying gradients of horizontal red stripes that should only make the world’s most famous player look even faster when racing down the pitch.

11) Uruguay

uruguay

The trademark sky blue of La Celeste is very similar to this year’s Italy shirt also manufactured by Puma that features the Uruguyan flag on the sleeves.  I wonder what Uruguay and Italy did to escape the embossing trend?

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