Boot spotting: 12th June

The EUROs are here! While some of us may be fortunate enough to be in a country where the viewing times for the games are pretty friendly, the rest of us will have to contend with just under a month’s worth of sleep deprivation and very early mornings. It’s still worth it! With one round of group games down, let’s take a time out to check out the best boot spottings from not only the European championships, but the various other internationals from this weekend. Which boot spots made the cut this week?

Mario Gomez (Germany) – Puma EvoSpeed I

Germany’s in-form striker struck again, this time with a late winner against Portugal in a game where the opposition had the majority of the chances. While Mario Gomez has been sporting the launch colourway White/Blue V1.11 for the majority of the season with Bayern Munich, he finally moved into the new EvoSpeed in time for the new European championships. It’ll be interesting to see whether the striker is going to hold onto the new EvoSpeed colourway for as long as he did the White/Blue V1.11.

Alan Dzagoev (Russia) – Mizuno Morelia Neo

We don’t see too much of the Mizuno Morelia Neo, but Mizuno will be thanking Dzagoev after his brilliant double against the Czech Republic in the second game of the Championships. With the plethora of lightweight kangaroo leather boots on the market, the clean Mizuno Morelia Neo looks outstanding on the pitch. Soccer Reviews will have it’s review of Mizuno’s kangaroo leather speed boot up by the weekend, and it certainly makes for interesting reading.

Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany) – adidas adiPure III

No matter what adidas do, they can’t get their headline player into the adiPure 11Pro. While we saw photos of Bastian wearing the boots in training two weeks ago, the midfielder played the game in his seemingly ever-reliable pair of adiPure IIIs. Perhaps the only way adidas may be able to tempt their star into the adiPure 11Pro is to make a custom pair of the boots with a kangaroo leather upper, assuming that is what’s keeping the German out of the new boots.

Konstantin Zyryanov (Russia) – Nike Tiempo Legend IV (Custom)

There were quite a few interesting pairs of boots in the Russia vs Czech Republic game late last week, but one of the more interesting boot selections was that of Konstantin Zyryanov, who has blacked out the white Nike tick off his Black/White/Orange Tiempo Legend IVs. I guess it’s quite unique to not have any branding on it, but we don’t think it’s over a contractual dispute with Nike as the whole boot would have been blacked out. We’d love to know what Zyryanov has used to black the tick out, because it’s a very clean and thorough job!

Osvaldo Martinez (Paraguay) – adidas miCoach F50 adiZero (Custom)

And coming in with what could be seen as the brightest boot spot of the week is Osvaldo Martinez and his customised miCoach F50 adiZeros. There were a lot of international games in South America this week, and Martinez played for his home country in the bright Blue/Black customised boots, topped off with some yellow laces. They actually look quite good, but don’t seem to have a resemblance with his Paraguay kit.

Sergey Ignashevich (Russia) – Lotto Zhero Gravity II 200

We’ve seen a lot of Nike ‘clash’ boots, Blue/Infared adidas boots and your occasional White/Ribbon Red/Limoges Puma football boot on the pitches of Polkraine so far, but we haven’t seen too much from the other brands. Lotto has also released it’s own range of EURO 2012 football boots, with the Zhero Gravity and Fuerzapura getting a new Red/White colourway, while the Stadio Potenza’s new colourway is decorated in the colours of Italy. Ignashevich isn’t wearing the shoelace-less Zhero Gravity 100, perhaps in fear the boot may slip off his foot! It’s a nice match with his Russia kit too.

Pablo Escobar (Bolivia) – adidas Predator PowerSwerve

Retro Nike Mercurial Vapor or adidas Predator boot spots is always guaranteed to make it to our weekly boot spotting articles if we find one. We’re going all the way to La Paz for this boot spot, with Bolivia’s Pablo Escobar being snapped up in the Red/Black/Silver Predator PowerSwerve, which were released all the way back in the 2008/2009 season. The PowerSwerve is arguably the last Predator to have all the classic Predator characteristics in tact, so it’s always a special boot at Soccer Reviews.

Aleksandr Anyukov (Russia) – Nike Tiempo Air Legend II (Custom)

This boot spot is probably the hardest boot I’ve ever had to decipher during my time of working for the website. At first, I thought it was a blackout pair of Puma King Finales, but some angles of the boot showed the boot had a Nike tick on the soleplate and a fold-over tongue. In the end, I’m going to go with Anyukov wearing a blackout pair of Nike Tiempo Air Legend IIs, which had a fold-over tongue and a Nike tick on the soleplate. It’s incredibly hard to work out what it is, but we think we may be on the right track.

Thomas Hubschman (Czech Republic) – adidas Predator Absolute

While the Predator PowerSwerves above may date back a few years, the Predator Absolute was the generation of Predator boots released before the PowerSwerve, and probably the pinnacle boot of the Predator series. It’s surprising to see such an old boot being worn at the European Championships, so full marks to Hubschman to keeping his Predator Absolutes in such top condition.

That’s it for this week’s boot spotting. What was your favourite spot this week? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.