Tag: International

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European International Tops Uncategorized

Thierry Henry – 2006 – Scotland vs France

The Euro 2008 qualifying campaign is a tough one to look back on as a Scotland fan, imagine getting your hopes up beating France twice before throwing it all away in the second last game against Georgia leaving it down to beating World Champion’s Italy on the last day of qualifying.

With that disappointment in the past now, we have some fond memories to look back on now including both historic victories against France, Home and Away.

This jersey comes from the home game at Hampden where Gary Caldwell netted the only goal of the game, in front of 57,000 fans, from a Paul Hartley corner in the 67th minute. For me this top is an absolute winner and one of the best French kits produced this side of the millennium. My favourite thing about it has to be the badge with the teams and date embroidered underneath is just a sheer touch of class by adidas.

Thierry Henry lined up along side fellow compatriots Eric Abidal, Frank Ribery, Claude Makelele, Lillian Thuram and Patrick Vieira but all this firepower couldn’t force its way through the defence of Caldwell and Weir.

The ex Arsenal and Barcelona forward gained 123 caps for France where he ranks 3rd on the al time appearance list, behind Hugo Lloris and Lilian Thuram. Henry also holds the record for most goals for France at 51 goals scored.

The club career of Thierry Henry is also outstanding, having played at the very top for most of his career with Juventus, Barcelona, Monaco and most notably Arsenal. It is at Arsenal where Henry really peaked, winning two Premier Leagues (one invincible) and two FA Cup’s, finishing runner up in the 2003 Ballon D’or, just behind Juventus star Pavel Nedved.

Thierry would win the Champions League at the second time of asking after his first ended in a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in 2006 with an 81st minute goal from Belletti sealed their fate. Two years later he would arrive at the Nou Camp and a year later getting to the final in Rome where Henry would call back the years to terrorise Manchester United once again.

In all, Thierry Henry is one of the best to ever do it with 360 goals in 789 games, a World Cup, European Championship, Champions League, multiple league winning medals and golden boots. He will also go down as one of my favourite players which isn’t as much of an achievement compared to the other awards listed.

Shout out to Graeme Alexander for lending me his collection of tops. Some more icons of the game coming soon.

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British International Tops

Graham Alexander – The Consummate Professional

The current Motherwell manager had an impressive football career, making his way up the English footballing pyramid as either a solid full back or holding midfielder, playing over 1000 career games for club and country. Those clubs being Scunthorpe, Luton, Preston and Burnley.

Alexander started his career with Scunthorpe’s youth team in 1988 before signing professional forms and playing 159 games with the senior team helping himself to 18 goals. He would move to Luton Town in 1995 where he would turn out for The Hatters 150 times scoring 15 goals in the process. By this time Alexander was beginning to earn a bit of a reputation for himself as a solid dependable player who could put his foot on the ball and pick a pass. He then earned a move to Preston North End in March 1999 where he would spend the next 8 years of his career [7 of those competing in the English Championship] Playing 352 games and hitting the net 52 times.

In 2007 Alexanders dedication and determination would be rewarded with a £200,000 move to a Burnley side pushing for promotion. Promotion to The Premier League was duly achieved and Alexander would enter the history books as the oldest player to make his Premier League debut, at the ripe old age of 37. Not only did he make his debut but was named as club captain and would make a further 32 league appearances that season, scoring 7 goals into the bargain. Alexander would leave Burnley in 2011 making 177 appearances and scoring 24 goals. He would head back to Preston for one last swansong appearing 18 times and scoring 2 goals. His last appearance was marked with a 90th minute trademark free-kick equaliser in a 2 all draw with League One Champions Charlton. It was actually his last touch of the ball as a professional. A fitting way to end your career.

There are many figures banded about the internet relating to Alexanders prowess from the penalty spot. Some websites say 72 scored from 77 but we’ll go with TransferMarket who have Alexander down as having converted 61 out of 65 penalties in his career which is a 93.8% conversion rate. That is a pretty impressive stat and should certainly be spoken about more often than it does.

On the 16th April 2011, in Burnley’s win over Swansea City in a Championship Match, Alexander would become only the second outfield player in English football history to have made 1,000 professional appearances

In 2002, Alexander would gain his first international call up at the age of 30. He would come off the bench at Pittodrie where Berti Vogts Scotland would lose 2-1 to Nigeria in a friendly. He would go on to make 40 international appearances. The highlights would be The famous wins over France Home and Away, a draw with Italy in 2005 and a draw with Croatia in 2008. Over the 40 appearances Alexander made for Scotland, he only gained one yellow card which he picked up in a 1-1 draw with New Zealand in 2003.

This jersey comes from Alexanders last Scotland Game which was a World Cup Qualifier played at Hampden Park against Macedonia on the 5th of September 2009. Scotland won 2 nil with goals coming from Scott Brown and James McFadden. Alexander played the full 90mins.

Steve Cotterill probably summed up Alexanders character and professionalism best when he said ” His boots were always spotless, he didn’t have an inch of fat on him and, if he spoke, players may have questioned him but they knew he was right. The only shame is that he is 38, he deserves to have played in The Premier League a lot longer “

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European International Tops

Alessandro Birindelli – Italy 03′

As Italy have just won the Euros, there is no better time to share this classic from a friendly game against Northern Ireland in the summer of 2003. Italy won the fixture 2-0 to no surprise as they had a squad filled with household names at the time such as Ballon D’or winner Fabio Cannavaro, Antonio Di Natalie and Alessandro Birindelli.

Birindelli origionally started his career as a right winger during his time at Empoli before dropping back into right back. It is with Empoli that Birirndelli would play almost 150 games, helping them get promoted back to back seasons from the Serie C1 to the Serie A.

The lifelong Juventus fan would eventually get his move to the star studded side that would bolster the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Edgar Davids, Allessandro Del Piero and Filipo Inzaghi. Birindelli would go on to win 3 Serie A titles and 3 Suppercoppa Italiana’s before Juventus’s relegation at the end of the 2005/06 season due to the Calciopoli match fixing scandal which saw Juventus, alongside Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina be deducted points and fined but it was only Juventus who were to be relegated to Serie B. Juventus were also stripped of their 04/05 Serie A title.

Juventus won the Serie B with a six point gap above Napoli even after being given a 9 point deduction at the start of the season. This is no surprise as a handful of their star players stayed to help lift the super club back from the ashes. Players such as Birindelli, Trezeguet, Buffon, Chiellini, Nedved and Del Peiro all stayed loyal with Del Piero winning the golden boot for the season.

Birindelli would leave Juventus in 2008 after spending 11 years in Turin and moving to Pisa for a season then eventually retiring after a season with Valle del Giovenco. His son Samuele Birindelli currently plays centre half for Pisa and has made over 130 appearances since is debut in 2016.

This jersey was Puma’s first take on the Italian National Team and have managed to keep supplying belters ever since. A plain kit that looks very elegant with the blue tone that Italy have used for years plus the badge on this jersey is probably personal favourite of mine and agree that it should be used more often. The three stars above the puma badge on the sleeve is also a nice added feature.

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European International Tops

Forza Italia / Andrea Pirlo

Italy are going to be playing in the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley tonight and what better way to get you in the mood than having a read at this.

Winners of four World Cups and a European Championship, Italy have always been one of the best in the world but over the last few years it hasn’t been easy supporting the Italian National Team. In 2018, Italy dropped down to 14th in the FIFA world rankings after failing to qualify for the World Cup in Russia. After failure to qualify, Italy would start their rebuild by hiring manager Roberto Mancini and haven’t looked back since.

Starting off the tournament with a 3-0 victory over Turkey and then another 3-0 win over Switzerland saw Italy qualify with one group game to spare but a 1-0 win over Wales saw Italy become the only team this tournament to qualify through the group without conceding a goal.

They haven’t had an easy route to the final either after beating Austria 2-1 after extra time, Belgium 2-1 and Spain 4-2 on penalties, they thoroughly deserve their place in this final.

Looking back to Italy’s last major trophy takes us back to the 2006 World Cup that was played in Germany. When you think about this final, two things come to mind. The first being Zinedine Zidane’s famous headbutt and the second being Andrea Pirlo’s man of the match performance. Beating France in penalties after full time ended 1-1 with Pirlo taking one of Italy’s penalties. France scored in the 9th minute after Zidane converted a penalty into Gigi Buffon. Italy equalised not long after in the 19th minute with Marco Materazzi scoring from an excellent delivery from an Andrea Pirlo corner.

Andrea Pirlo is not only one of Italy’s greatest ever players but is regarded as one of the best deep lying playmakers ever. Capped 114 times for Italy, Pirlo has played for Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus, going on to manage The Old Lady for the 20/21 season.

This jersey comes from Italy’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Northern Ireland. The Italian’s left with a draw after an excellent effort from the Northern Irish forcing a 0-0 stalemate.

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Club Tops Rest of the World

ML1 in the MLS

We are going to dive deep into four of ex-Motherwell players, two from recent memory and two from back in the 70’s, that have made the move to the over the Atlantic to America.

Starting off we’ve got current Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Andy Rose. Arriving from Coventry City before arriving at Fir Park, Rose would go on to play 40 league matches for Motherwell while helping them reach both League Cup final and Scottish Cup final, where they would put up a fight but would be beaten on both occasions by Celtic.

Rose would leave Motherwell in the winter of 2018 to join Whitecaps where he has played 38 games. When at Motherwell I felt that Rose was a consistent performer and really helped the club getting to both cup finals.

Another player that was part of those two finals is Motherwell academy graduate Chris Cadden. Playing over 110 games for the steelmen, Cadden has also been capped 12 times for the Scotland under 21’s and even gaining two first team caps in friendly games against Peru and Mexico.

After leaving Motherwell, Cadden was picked up by Columbus Crew and immediately loaned out for the 19/20 season to Oxford United before returning to be part of the squad that would win the 2020 MLS Cup. In January 2021, Cadden returned to Scotland to play for Edinburgh side Hibernian.

However before these two, Motherwell had another two players during the 1970’s that have took the trip across the ocean. First off was defender Willie Watson who started out at Manchester Utd before moving to Maimi Toros on loan just before his move to his hometown of Motherwell where he would play over 100 games before moving to Dundee and eventually back over to America to play for indoor side Phoenix Inferno.

The last player to have moved was centre half Willie McVie who played for Motherwell between 1975-1979, racking up an impressive 87 appearances before moving to Canada to play for Toronto Blizzard in the NASL.

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European International Tops

Sweden – 98/99

Currently ranked 18th in the world, the Swedish Men’s National Team have been making a name for themselves recently as they have managed to qualify for both knockout rounds of the current Euro 2020 and the 2018 World Cup under head coach Janne Andersson who took over the blue and yellow in 2016 after they finished bottom of their group in Euro 2016.

Unfortunately Sweden never qualified for the 1998 World Cup and this kit was never displayed on the world stage, however they did wear it during their qualification for Euro 2000 which they did end up qualifying for. Two loses to Italy and Belgium and a draw against Turkey meant Sweden finished bottom of their group with the one point.

During this time, Sweden did have two soon to be world class talents in their squad with Henrik Larsson and Freddie Ljungberg being their two powerhouses. Larsson was just at the youth of his Celtic career while Ljungberg had just been signed by Arsenal. Over the years, both players were first team regulars with Larsson gaining 106 caps and Ljungberg gaining a respectable 75 caps.

Ljungberg would go on to lift two Premier League titles, one being Arsenal’s invincible season, and three FA Cups while totalling 241 Premier League appearances for Arsenal and West Ham. On the other hand, Henrik Larsson would lift four Scottish Premierships, with Celtic, and two La liga titles and a Champions League with FC Barcelona while claiming four Swedish Player of the Year awards from 2001-2004.

As for this top, the thing that stood out to me straight away was the collar. A nice open 90’s style collar that opens at the front showing a smaller badge on the blue underneath. Also you don’t find many tops nowadays that have laces on the chest which I think makes this look stunning.

Other details you will find on this jersey is faint lines traveling down the strip with the Sweden badge facing upwards and downwards. Also the Adidas three stripes travelling down the sleeves, around the collar and on the laces on the front.

In all I think the colour combination for Sweden kits are a delight and I am glad I managed to pick this one up from Classic football Shirts during my time in London. It really is the worlds biggest football shirt collection.

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British International Tops

Trevor Cherry – England 76′

Trevor Cherry was an English full back that could be played anywhere along the back line. Starting his career with Huddersfield Town, Cherry would make the move to Leeds for £100,000 where he would play 399 games and go onto captain the club.

Winning his first cap in 1976 against Wales with this jersey coming from his game against Scotland the same year in the Home Championship.

Cherry would go down as the first England player to be sent off in an international friendly as England played Argentina in 1977 with Cherry getting two teeth knocked out after the rash challenge on Daniel Bertoni who then decided to punch Cherry in the mouth.

Cherry was part of the England squad for the 1980 European Championships in Italy but was restricted to a single substitute appearance against Spain which would be his last international cap.

This top comes from the 1976 Home Championships where Scotland Hosted England at Hampden. Scotland would win the game with goals coming from centre half Gordon McQueen and clinical striker Kenny Dalglish with a penalty from Mick Channon giving England a goal back in the 87th minute.

Admiral only produced two England home kits with this being the first and the last being the 1982 jersey that also features on The Kit Rail under Terry Butcher.

As for this top, it’s a classic England home top using the main three colour red, white and blue with red and blue stripes travelling down the sleeve and also around the collar.

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British International Tops

Willie Pettigrew – Scotland 75′

Regular subscribers to The Kit Rail will know that we’ve already covered Willie Pettigrew with his stunning Dundee United 1981 Scottish Cup Final Jersey. For that reason we are covering Willie’s full Scotland international career, from the under 23’s through to his last full cap.

Scotland Under 23’s

He made his international debut for the under 23 side, at the age of 21, in a friendly match in Sweden that was played on the 16th of April 1975. Scotland won this fixture 2-1.

A European Championship clash in Romania would see Willie score his first international goal in another 2-1 win coming on the 31st of May 1975.

Next up would be a double header against Denmark with Scotland securing a crucial 1-0 win away, on the 2nd of September 1975, and adding yet another victory, this time beating the Danish 4-1 on the 28th of October 1975.

Pettigrew ended the international calendar year with another European Championship Victory, grabbing himself a brace in a 4-0 destruction of Romania at Brockville on the 16th of December 1975. This result saw Scotland top their group and continue through the tournament.

Willie’s sixth and penultimate under 23 cap would come against Wales at Wrexhams Racecourse Ground on the 4th of February. During this game, Willie would score another brace to secure a narrow 3-2 victory for the Scots. We covered this match when we featured the Joey Jones jersey not too long ago.

The last cap to come for Willie Pettigrew would be in the second leg of the Under 23 European Championship Quarter Finals as Scotland took on The Netherlands in front of an amazing 32,000 fans at Easter Road, home of Hibernian, on the 24th of March 1976. Scotland lost the first game 2-0 (a game that Willie missed due to injury). Scotland would win the second game 2-0 but would lose on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate score. You can find more details on this match as we covered it during the Jan Everse jersey.

In all Willie started 7 games at under 23 level winning all seven and grabbing himself five goals in the process.

Full International Career

2 weeks after his last under 23 cap, Willie would make his full international debut and what a debut it would be.

A home friendly versus Switzerland on the 7th of April 1976 would see Willie net his first goal after only 2 minutes. This would be the only goal of the game as Scotland would win the game 1-0. This game has also been covered as we featured Rene Hasler earlier this week.

Cap number two would again see Willie find the net, scoring the first goal in a 3-1 win over Wales at Hampden Park on the 6th of May 1976. You can see more of this game and jersey on Terry Yorath’s page on the The Kit Rail.

A few days later would come cap number three which would see Scotland beat Northern Ireland convincingly in a 3-0 win at Hampden Park with goals from Gemmill, Masson and Dalglish.

Willie would have to wait six months for cap number four which would be a world cup qualifier against Wales. We would see another victory for Scotland and Pettigrew as the Scots would beat Wales 1-0.

Willie’s fifth and final cap would come on the 27th of April 1977 and would see Scotland run out as winners in a 3-1 victory against Sweden with goals coming from Hartford, Dalglish and Joe Crag.

Willie would play five times for his country, scoring two goals in the process and would be in the winning team on all five occasions. If you add Willie’s under 23 appearances, you end up with an impressive 12 games representing Scotland, 12 victories and a highly commendable 7 goals.

Willie Pettigrew, take a bow.

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European International Tops

Rene Hasler – Switzerland 76′

As Switzerland begin to face up against Italy on matchday two of Euro 2020, we’re going back in time to show off this golden oldie from when Scotland hosted the Swiss back in 1976.

Rene Hasler was a 5ft 7′ defender who played his full career in Switzerland with FC Zurich, FC Basel for two separate spells and Neuchâtel Xamax FCS.

Starting his career way back in 1969 at FC Zurich, where he would win the Swiss Cup before moving onto FC Basel. It is during his time in Basel Hasler would earn his first cap for Switzerland which would be on the 21st of October 1972 against Italy in a 0-0 draw. Rene’s last international appearance would end with a 2-1 defeat to Spain.

This jersey is from Switzerland’s clash with Scotland from the 7th of April 1976. The game ended 1-0 to Scotland with Willie Pettigrew scoring on his debut for his country inside the first two minutes of the game.

Rene Hasler, Second up on the right column.

This Adidas classic is similar to many from around that time with a simple two colour combination with one being the main body, white, and the other being used for the collar and Adidas stripes, red. The colours used being from the Swiss flag as shown as the badge.

This top also features a black Adidas branding which other Adidas made kits did not during this time. One such case would be the Netherlands top which is featured on the website that is Adidas but only shows the stripes with no branding.

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British International Tops

Terry Yorath – Wales 76′

With Euro 2020 about to begin, we have been holding off sharing this beauty of a top but now we can with Wales’ first game against Switzerland quickly approaching we can finally talk about it.

Making 59 appearances for Wales from 1969 all the way to 1981 while captaining the team for 42 games. Yorath also managing the team for five years guiding them to wins over Brazil and then European champions West Germany while almost qualifying for the 1994 World Cup.

Yorath was also the first Welshman to play in a European Cup final as Leeds were beaten off Bayern Munich in the 73/74 final.

This jersey is from Yorath’s games against Scotland in the Home Championships from the 6th of May 1976 where Scotland got the better of the Welsh 3-1 thanks to an opener from Motherwell favourite Willie Pettigrew.

Yorath seen having a tussle with Scotland number 10 Archie Gemmill. Can be seen around the 7:30 minute mark. 06/05/1976 Scotland v Wales – Bing video

Probably one of Wales most iconic kits, this symmetrical beauty uses the bright red of the dragon as the main colour with the green and yellow coming from the Royal Badge of Wales. The best thing about this kit may be the yellow Admiral branding on the collar matching the stripes down the side. No Wales kit would be complete without the badge and this one is a beauty, showing the dragon off in all its glory surrounded by the green shield with yellow stars.