Colours by
Country:
England vs.
Brazil
The question of whether the games
between England and Brazil warranted a change of colours, must have caused
quite a dilemma over the years. For the first twenty years of meetings, it
was only deemed necessary to change England's shorts and stockings, but for
the next thirty years, full change-uniforms were worn in all of their
encounters, apart from in a couple of games.
To begin with, it is probably
fortunate that Brazil lost to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup. They wore a
change strip of all white, which clearly would not have been appropriate
against England, but the trauma of losing the World Cup on home soil would
always be associated with the white kit and it was discarded in favour of
blue shirts, white shorts and blue stockings. England would not see this new
alternative uniform until 1990, however. They themselves had discarded a
change strip of blue shirts following their defeat by the USA at the same
World Cup in 1950.
England did not meet Brazil for the
first time until 1956. This was a period when England's stockings were navy
blue, yet for some reason, they changed them to red against Brazil. Perhaps
they were under the impression that Brazil would wear blue stockings, even
though they were white throughout the 1954 World Cup. Apart from this, there
was no real problem. England's Umbro white shirts and Brazil's yellow were
distinctive enough, especially in contrast to England's dark navy shorts and
red stockings, as opposed to Brazil's much lighter blue shorts and white
stockings. The only other change would have been to England's goalkeeper, Reg Matthews, who had to change from the usual yellow jersey. It is probable
that he wore blue, though we have yet to confirm this. Hand-painted black
and white photographs have depicted him in green, which is possible, but
blue was certainly the second-choice colour by 1963.
By the time of the 1958 World Cup,
England's stockings had become red as first choice, so again, there was no
real problem, but when England visited Brazil for the first time, the
following year, it was felt that England should change to white shorts, to
avoid any possibility that there would be a clash with their opponents'
colours.
In the 1962 World Cup quarter-final,
England, now in Bukta uniforms, switched to all white against Brazil, the red stockings having been
reduced to the role of spare pairs, though it appeared that some players had
plain white socks, whilst others had a red and a blue stripe across the
tops. This did not prompt Brazil to change from their white stockings.
At Wembley, in 1963, England wore red
stockings, knowing that Brazil were going to wear white, and for their next
three meetings, the first two of which were in Brazil, England switched to
all white. They had also switched back to Umbro by the time of the 1969
fixture.
For the 1970 World Cup tournament,
just as in the previous year's end-of-season tour, England had decided to
wear all white, believing it would help control their body temperatures
better in the Mexican heat and this decision finally prompted Brazil to make
a first change to their uniform in eight meetings with England, though it
was only to wear a rather unflattering pair of grey stockings. This, of
course, did not stop their relentless charge to the Jules Rimet Trophy.
By 1976,
England were wearing Admiral uniforms and came
face-to-face with Brazil at the American
Bicentennial Tournament. Once again, England swapped
their blue shorts for white, a pair yet to be
unveiled as part of their new red change uniform.
Compared to the five previous occasions when they
had donned white shorts against Brazil, this was
probably the closest in shade that their
first-choice blue shorts had been to Brazil's
lighter blue. To top the outfit off in a most
unexpected fashion, a pair of what has been
described elsewhere on this website as 'ghastly pale
yellow stockings' was worn. This was no error,
either, as England wore an all plain-yellow uniform
against Team America in the final game of the
tournament. The game against Brazil also introduced
a new Admiral blue change jersey for Ray Clemence to
wear in England's goal.
The following
year saw England back in Rio de Janeiro and this
time, their choice of stockings was almost certainly
an error. For the first time in ten meetings with
Brazil, England decided to wear their red change
uniform, which was to appear for every game of their
South American tour. However, unlike the two
remaining games in Argentina and Uruguay, England
did not wear the red stockings. Instead, they turned
out in a navy blue pair, which we can only assume,
was borrowed from their hosts.
Having made
their decision to switch to red against Brazil,
England did the same in their next two meetings,
still with no sign of their opponents switching from
their famous yellow shirts, or even any part of
their traditional uniform. Perhaps, they were just
too famous to be asked to wear an alternative kit.
In 1978, at
Wembley, Brazil revealed the name of their kit
manufacturer for the first time against England, as
the adidas logo appeared on their shirts and shorts.
Meanwhile, Joe Corrigan, in England's goal managed
to pair the blue Admiral jersey with the black
shorts and stockings from the first-choice yellow
uniform, an unlikely combination given that these
were edged with yellow, whilst the jersey had red
and white piping.
This possibly
prompted the F.A. and Admiral to change the blue
jersey, and by the time Brazil were next back in
town, in 1981, it had undergone an overhaul and was
now edged with yellow and black to fit better with
the black shorts and stockings. It was also a
lighter shade of blue.
England were
back in Umbro uniforms in 1984 and John Barnes raced
through the Brazilian defence to score his wonder
goal, with England having once again reverted back
to white shirts and shorts, with red stockings, a
combination not worn in any international since the
1959 trip to Rio. This match also heralded a switch
from the endless succession of blue goalkeeper
jerseys, with Peter Shilton decked out in grey, with
black sleeves.
The 1987 Rous
Cup fixture was unique in uniform terms, as both
teams stuck to their first-choice uniforms, which
meant that only the shirts were distinctly different
colours, though England were now back in darker
shorts. This was followed, in 1990, by a momentous
event. Brazil marched out at Wembley in their
second-choice blue uniform. It was the first time
ever that they had conceded colours against England
and this was their 15th meeting.
Six more
fixtures followed in which one or other of the teams
wore their second-choice uniform. In the 1995 Umbro
Cup, at Wembley, England wore an all-red strip,
described as 'wine-coloured'. Two years later, with
echoes of 1966, England managed to lift a trophy in
their red uniform, despite losing to Brazil in Le
Tournoi, in Paris.
Another
dramatic World Cup encounter took place in Japan in
2002, when a blue-shirted Ronaldinho broke English
hearts with a long-range lob over David Seaman as
Brazil marched on to their record fifth World Cup.
For the new
Wembley's first international, in 2007, the teams
reverted back to the old days of wearing their
first-choice with minor concessions and this time,
Brazil wore a pair of light-blue stockings to match
their shorts.
England
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