Time for some jersey information!
Adidas has debuted their latest jersey font numbering and lettering earlier this week. All the National Team federations which are signed to Adidas who have played friendly matches this week have all had the latest numbering and lettering fonts on their jerseys. With the AFA signed to Adidas, it's very likely that Argentina will have the change as well. The jerseys remain the same, just the numbering and lettering will be different.
Time for some random information which I have gathered concerning Argentina jerseys. Note that this has more to do with superstition than anything else.
As I was going through Lionel MESSI's goals for Argentina, I realised that some of them have come in the away blue jersey. Not only that, but whenever he scored in the away blue jersey, it seems to have some sort of significance, be it big or small. Here's a list of MESSI's goals scored while wearing that shirt:
His first goal for the Argentina National Team came while wearing the away blue jersey (against Croatia).
His only World Cup goal came while wearing the away blue jersey (against Serbia and Montenegro).
His first headed goal for Argentina came while wearing the away blue jersey (against Uruguay).
The first time he ever captained Argentina came while wearing the away blue jersey (against Greece).
His first ever hattrick for Argentina came while wearing the away blue jersey (against Switzerland).
However, that shirt isn't all good luck for MESSI (or for Argentina). In 2006 against Germany, while the team was wearing the away blue jersey, he was left on the bench and the team was eliminated. Against Uruguay at the 2011 Copa America, the team once again opted not to wear the traditional sky blue and white and was eliminated. It seems like something memorable happens to MESSI, whether it's good or bad, when wearing that jersey.
Throughout the years, there were teams who disliked playing in a certain colored jersey. For example, I have some friends who are Brazilian and while they love the look of their away jersey, they dislike seeing their team play in it because they think it brings them bad luck. For Argentina, it's back to that away blue jersey. I remember prior to their match against Germany at the 2010 World Cup, people were wondering which jersey Argentina would wear. Would it be the traditional sky blue and white or the blue which they were wearing when the team was eliminated both in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. Obviously there are things which go way beyond statistics (how Argentina has never lost a game when Sergio AGUERO has scored) or superstition, but every now and then, it's fun to analyze things like that as it's just one more thing to think about when looking forward to a match.
Whenever we post something here on Mundo Albiceleste, we obviously have to search a little bit to find a picture which corresponds with the topic. A few months ago, I remember searching for a picture of Roberto ABBONDANZIERI and while doing that, two images kept sticking out. A picture of him at the 2006 World Cup Quarter Final match against Germany and the other at the 2007 Copa America final. Why did those two pictures stick out? Well, in both pictures, ABBONDANZIERI was wearing a red goalkeeper jersey and you'll see, that's not a good omen.
Against Germany in 2006, ABBONDANZIERI got injured and we ultimately lost on penalty kicks. Against Brazil, in his final match, Roberto AYALA scored an own-goal and Argentina suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat, despite being the favorites heading into the final. Want to take it a bit further? Which colored jersey was Sergio ROMERO wearing against Uruguay at the 2011 Copa America when Argentina got eliminated? If you said red, you guessed it correctly. What happened? Javier MASCHERANO was shown a red card and once again, we lost on penalty kicks.
It seems that Argentina only wears the blue jersey with the goalkeeper wearing red only in elimination matches! And then they do, Argentina is 0-2 (in recent memory) losing both matches on penalty kicks!