Mali Away 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flag of Mali

First international: Mali 4-3 Central African Republic (1960)

Biggest win: Mali 11-0 Mauritania (1972)

Biggest loss: Kuwait 8-1 Mali (1997)

Most capped: Seydou Keita (73 caps)

Star player: Seydou Keita (Dalian FC)

Ahh I bring you the shirt of Mali now. Mali is probably my favourite footballing country and I will now tell you why. Before Frederic Kanoute announced his desire to play for Mali I had never heard of them but then once he did I did a bit of research on them and found out they had quite a few decent players. Although now Kanoute has retired from international football if I am correct. I have then been Mali on pretty much every Football Manager game and they were my favourite team to be on the FIFA World Cup game 2010. Soumaila Coulibaly had a rocket of a shot for them on it so if you still own it, go be Mali and play him and you'll see what I mean. Also one of Liverpool's worst players at the time is a national for the side. That player is Djimi Traore but I liked him for how bad he was at times but then he'd go and do something brilliant. Momo Sissoko who was at Liverpool for a few seasons also is from Mali and they have players like Seydou Keita of Barcelona and Mahamadou Diarra who is now at Fulham. So yeah a pretty decent squad overall. I'd suggest people to be them on Football Manager to if you have them.

I have been after an Airness Mali shirt since I started collecting and when I saw it pop up on eBay I just had to get it. Airness are a very hard brand to deal with as they never respond to emails and do not seem to make replica shirts anymore so this made this shirt even harder than usual to find, but then an Australian seller on eBay had one going and my lucky day finally arrived and this was a nice Christmas present to myself. 

Mali have reached the African Nations final once in 1972 which they lost 3-2 to Congo. In the 2010 African Cup of Nations Mali were 4-0 down to Angola with 15 minutes to go. They managed to draw the game 4-4 which was to everyone's surprise which can be seen in the video below. The country is currently in a bit of trouble with civil war breaking out and football is not at the top of everyone's lists with players not being played etc. They have qualified for the 2013 AFCON where I'd expect them do well again, could they win it? Maybe?

Mali Home 2008

 

  

 

Flag of Mali

First international: Mali 4-3 Central African Republic (1960)

Biggest win: Mali 11-0 Mauritania (1972)

Biggest loss: Kuwait 8-1 Mali (1997)

Most capped: Seydou Keita (73 caps)

Star player: Seydou Keita (Dalian FC)

Ahh I bring you the shirt of Mali now. Mali is probably my favourite footballing country and I will now tell you why. Before Frederic Kanoute announced his desire to play for Mali I had never heard of them but then once he did I did a bit of research on them and found out they had quite a few decent players. Although now Kanoute has retired from international football if I am correct. I have then been Mali on pretty much every Football Manager game and they were my favourite team to be on the FIFA World Cup game 2010. Soumaila Coulibaly had a rocket of a shot for them on it so if you still own it, go be Mali and play him and you'll see what I mean. Also one of Liverpool's worst players at the time is a national for the side. That player is Djimi Traore but I liked him for how bad he was at times but then he'd go and do something brilliant. Momo Sissoko who was at Liverpool for a few seasons also is from Mali and they have players like Seydou Keita of Barcelona and Mahamadou Diarra who is now at Fulham. So yeah a pretty decent squad overall. I'd suggest people to be them on Football Manager to if you have them.

I have been after an Airness Mali shirt since I started collecting and when I saw it pop up on eBay I just had to get it. Airness are a very hard brand to deal with as they never respond to emails and do not seem to make replica shirts anymore so this made this shirt even harder than usual to find, but then an Australian seller on eBay had one going and my lucky day finally arrived and this was a nice Christmas present to myself. 

Mali have reached the African Nations final once in 1972 which they lost 3-2 to Congo. In the 2010 African Cup of Nations Mali were 4-0 down to Angola with 15 minutes to go. They managed to draw the game 4-4 which was to everyone's surprise which can be seen in the video below. The country is currently in a bit of trouble with civil war breaking out and football is not at the top of everyone's lists with players not being played etc. They have qualified for the 2013 AFCON where I'd expect them do well again, could they win it? Maybe?

Belgium Home 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flag of Belgium

First international: Belgium 3-3 France (1904)

Biggest win: Belgium 9-0 Zambia (1994)

Biggest loss: England 11-2 Belgium (1909)

Most capped: Jan Ceulemans (96 caps)

Top scorer: Bernard Voorhoof (30 goals)

Star player: Vincent Kompany (Man City)

Belgium qualified for 6 world cups between 1982 and 2002 and have qualified for 11 in total. Belgium were famously knocked out by England in the 1990 world cup thanks to a volley from David Platt. They reached the knockout stage in 5 of those 6 tournament but since then they have relatively under performed by not qualifying for a major tournament since 2002. Belgium currently have a very good squad on paper and I would expect them to qualify for Brazil 2014. They have players such as Fellaini, Vermealen, Vertonghen, Kompany, Benteke, Hazard, Mirallas, Defour, Witsel, Courtois, De Bruyne, Lukaku and Mignolet who have all done well recently. With these players in the squad I would expect them to qualify for the next world cup with that squad. They currently sit top of their qualifying group after 4 games. 

Uruguay Away 2011

 

 

 

 

Flag of Uruguay

First international: Uruguay 2-1 Argentina (1901)

Biggest win: Uruguay 9-0 Bolivia (1927)

Biggest loss: Uruguay 0-6 Argentina (1902)

Most capped: Diego Forlan (89 caps)

Top scorer: Diego Forlan (33 goals)

Star player: Luis Suarez (Liverpool FC)


Uruguay are one of the most successful teams in South America. They have in fact won 2 world cups (winning the first ever one) and have 15 Copa America titles, the latest one coming last year. They've competed in 41 Copa Americas overall and 11 world cups. For a country with just 3 million people this is quite an achievement and they recently managed to get up to as high as 2nd in the FIFA world rankings. The last world cup they got knocked out in the semi finals but Luis Suarez caused controversy when he handled the ball on the line in the last minute of extra time. Gyan then missed the penalty and Uruguay won the penalty shootout.

Uruguay Home 2011

 

 

 

 

 

Flag of Uruguay

First international: Uruguay 2-1 Argentina (1901)

Biggest win: Uruguay 9-0 Bolivia (1927)

Biggest loss: Uruguay 0-6 Argentina (1902)

Most capped: Diego Forlan (89 caps)

Top scorer: Diego Forlan (33 goals)

Star player: Luis Suarez (Liverpool FC)


Uruguay are one of the most successful teams in South America. They have in fact won 2 world cups (winning the first ever one) and have 15 Copa America titles, the latest one coming last year. They've competed in 41 Copa Americas overall and 11 world cups. For a country with just 3 million people this is quite an achievement and they recently managed to get up to as high as 2nd in the FIFA world rankings. The last world cup they got knocked out in the semi finals but Luis Suarez caused controversy when he handled the ball on the line in the last minute of extra time. Gyan then missed the penalty and Uruguay won the penalty shootout.

Newcastle Jets Away 2012

Well this arrived today as a Christmas present to myself. A few years ago if you said would you want to buy a Newcastle Jets shirt I would of said no but now there is a man named Emile Heskey that now graces their team. For this reason alone I feel that people should buy these shirts. The shirt came from an online shop called Lovell Soccer and the printing is not official A-League printing but the average person on the street will just look at the shirt and be like look he has an Emile Heskey shirt. 

I suppose I (Well Wikipedia) should give you a brief background of the Newcastle Jets. Newcastle Jets is a professional football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The club competes in the A-League and plays its home games at the Hunter Stadium. The Jets have won one A-League championship, defeating arch rivals the Central Coast Mariners 1-0 in the 2007-2008 grand final. In 2009, Newcastle played in the AFC Champions League for the first time reaching the round of 16. The club was formed in 2000 when it joined the National Soccer League (NSL) as Newcastle United, and was only one of three former NSL clubs to appear in the A-League. They are more commonly referred to today as the Newcastle Jets. 

That's enough about the club, now back to the beast that is Heskey. His full name is Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey (beastly name) and he was born on the 11th January 1978 and is of Antiguan descent. He has the same birthday as my mother so I like to celebrate my mother's birthday and then dedicate some of these celebrations to Emile Heskey as well. Heskey started his career at Leicester City before making an £11 million move to Liverpool in 2000 which was a record fee at the time. Being a Liverpool fan, this is where I started to like Heskey quite a lot. He spent 4 years at Liverpool winning a treble with them in 2001 before moving to Birmingham City in 2004, then Wigan Athletic in 2006, Aston Villa in 2009 and Newcastle Jets in 2012. Heskey played 62 times for England but only scored 7 goals. Although this sounds like a rubbish goal scoring record (well it is a rubbish goal scoring record) Heskey actually was quite an integral part for England's strike force basically beasting defenders out of the way to allow strikers like Michael Owen to score goals. 

As you can see I quite like Heskey. 

Heskey recently has been featured by a YouTube sensation called KSIolajidebt and if you haven't watched his videos on YouTube then you should as he is quite funny. He likes Heskey that much that he even made a song about him which I believe was in the iTunes charts for a bit. You can listen to the song in this video.

Another video of Heskey by the same person about Heskey's skills in the FIFA game series.

 

A video of Emile (Emily as the producer says) Heskey on the Rod Hull and Emu show destroying an assault course.

AFC Wimbledon Away 2010/2011 Matchworn

AFC Wimbledon is a professional English club based in Kingston Upon Thames, Greater London. The club currently play in League Two of the Football League which is the fourth tier of English football. They play at Kingsmeadow ground which is also shared with Kingstonian.
The club was founded in 2002 as a result of the decision for Wimbledon FC's relocation to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire by the Football Assocation; Wimbledon F.C. was subsequently renamed Milton Keynes Dons in 2004. The Wimbledon supporters who strongly opposed the idea of moving reacted by founding their own club, AFC Wimbledon, before the move was necessary or mandatory. In view of its transplanting to Milton Keynes, a large majority of Wimbledon fans felt that the original club no longer represented Wimbledon's legacy and traditions, and thus withdrew their support, choosing instead to start a new so-called "Phoenix Club" from scratch.
When AFC Wimbledon was formed it affiliated to both the London and Surrey Football Associations, and entered the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League which is the ninth tier in English football. In its short history the club has been extremely successful, being promoted five times in nine seasons, and going up from the ninth tier (Combined Counties Premier) to the fourth (League Two). The only other club considered to have completed this feat is the now dissolved Rushden and Diamonds. However, in that instance the club had been formed by a merger of two other previously existing clubs, namely Rushden Town and Irthlingborough Diamonds as opposed to being an entirely new entity.
AFC Wimbledon currently holds the record of the longest unbeaten run of league matches in English senior football, having played 78 consecutive league games without a defeat between February 2003 and December 2004. AFC Wimbledon also hold the distinction of being the first club to be formed in the 21st century to make it into the Football League

This shirt is signed and matchworn by a player called Reece Jones who I believe now plays at Farnborough Town FC. I am not a fan of AFC Wimbledon and do not usually collect English team shirts but the fact that it was matchworn and had Football Manager as their sponsor made me buy it, and I am a very big Football Manager fan with achievements such as winning a World Cup with Liberia and dominating Europe with Notts County. Plus it was relatively cheap as well off eBay.

FC Andorra Home 2012

 

 

Carlinhos celebrating for FC Andorra

Here I bring you the home shirt of the football club and futsal club of Andorra. Andorra is in fact its own country home to around 86,000 citizens but they also have a club side as well. San Marino as well have a national team and club team. FC Andorra do not play in an Andorran football league though. Since 1948 they have played in the Spanish leagues and currently in the Primera Catalana division which is the 5th level of the Spanish football league system. 

 The shirt comes from Ildefons Lima who is the top scorer for the Andorra national side despite being a centre back. He started his career at FC Andorra before playing for teams such as Espanyol, Pachuca, Triestina, Rayo Vallecano and Las Palmas before rejoining FC Andorra this season. The shirt is signed by Ildefons Lima and the shirt colours resemble the flag of Andorra. 

 I do also have an Andorra national football shirt and an Andorra national jacket which you can see at these links.

Shirt

http://bradsfootballshirtcollection.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/andorra-matchworn-home-2012.html

Jacket

http://bradsfootballshirtcollection.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/andorra-national-team-jacket.html

Trinidad and Tobago Home 2006

 

 

 

 

Flag of Trinidad and Tobago

First international: Suriname 3-3 Trinidad and Tobago (1934)

Biggest win: Trinidad and Tobago 11-0 Aruba (1989)

Biggest loss: Mexico 7-0 Trinidad and Tobago (2000)

Most capped: Angus Eve (117 caps)

Top scorer: Stern John (70 goals)

Star player: Kenwyne Jones (Stoke City)

Trinidad and Tobago came to most people's attention at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Trinidad and Tobago beat Bahrain 2-1 on aggregate in a World Cup qualifier playoff and became the country with the lowest ever population to reach a World Cup. Whilst at the 2006 World Cup they did not score a single goal but did manage a 0-0 draw against Sweden to give them 1 point before going out in the group stages but just getting to a World Cup is a big achievement for a country like Trinidad and Tobago. Against England they lost 2-0 thanks to goals from Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch although Crouch pulled the Trinidad and Tobago's players dreadlocks to reach over him to head it in. 

 One player during the World Cup who had a lot of media attention on him was Chris Birchall. Chris Birchall was in fact a white person born in England and played for Port Vale at the time. He has since played for LA Galaxy with David Beckham and now still plays in the MLS for Columbus Crew. Birchall was eligible for Trinidad and Tobago because his Mum was born in the country. It was widely thought that Birchall was the first ever white player to play for Trinidad and Tobago but during the 1980s a man named Stephen Hart who managed Canada as well also played for them despite being white. 

 This shirt in 2006 was in fact the best selling football shirt in Scotland. This was because one of the strikers that played for Trinidad and Tobago was Jason Scotland who played for St Johnstone at the time. This led to Irn Bru using Jason Scotland as their advertising campaign with the slogan 'Scotland's going to the world cup'. Trinidad and Tobago have had some good strikers recently with the likes of Dwight Yorke, Kenwyne Jones and Jason Scotland. 

 Russell Latapy which is the name on the back of the shirt was also a big star for Trinidad and Tobago. He played a lot of time in Scotland at clubs such as Rangers, Hibernian, Falkirk and Dundee United but also played in Portugal for a bit with clubs which were Academica, Porto and Boavista. He ended up managing the squad in 2009 until 2011 but did not fair well as Trinidad and Tobago did not qualify for the World Cup this time. 

 
A recent match between T&T and Anguilla. Makes it look dry at the England vs Poland game.

First of 3 Irn Bru - Jason Scotland adverts

Second of 3 Irn Bru - Jason Scotland adverts

Third of 3 Irn Bru - Jason Scotland adverts

Watch at 2.03 to see Crouch grab the guys dreadlocks to head in.