Euro 2012: Boot round up

The past few weeks has seen a multitude of new colourways (and boots) released to the market before the European Championships this Summer. The sheer number of new releases has proved difficult to keep up with, and so this article gives a concise look at each of the major new releases. We have our favourites, and we’re sure you guys do too! Keep on reading for the full low-down..

Nike – The Clash Collection

Nike Mercurial Vapor VIII – White/Red

Nike’s flagship boot for Euro 2012, there has been a lot of focused advertising showing the boots seemingly everywhere! Set to be worn by Cristiano Ronaldo in Poland, expect this boot to be seen on lots of players this Summer. The boots are set to arrive at SoccerReviews HQ in the future, and so expect a full review of the boots up in the next month or so.

Nike CTR360 Maestri II – White/Blue

Nike’s control boot is set to receive a fresh makeover in July, and so Nike have ensured the CTR360 Maestri IIs go out with a bang. This colourway is SoccerReviews personal favourite, and looks fantastic. The boots themselves contain dampening pods and a pass pad for ultimate control.

Nike T90 Laser IV – White/Green

Set to be worn by Wayne Rooney this Summer (although this could potentially be in only one game), the Nike T90 Laser IV is a striker’s dream boot. The shotshield works to fantastic effect, and SoccerReviews writer Ben claimed the Nike T90 Laser IVs were one of the best boots on the market last year.

Nike Tiempo Legend IV – White/Black

The final colourway in Nike’s ‘Clash’ collection. The Tiempo Legend IV looks awesome in this simple, classy colourway. I’d imagine these will be a MASSIVE hit with consumers and professionals alike. Now if only Nike could release a similar colourway on the Vapor VIIIs….

Adidas – Blue/White/Red across all silos!

Compared to the ‘Clash’ collection, this effort by Adidas is rather dull. Following suit from the Black/Yellow colourway on the three Adidas ranges in the 2010 World Cup, you will now be able to purchase the Adidas Predator LZs, F50 miCoach AdiZero and 11Pros in this bright colour combination.

Umbro St. George Collection – Red/White

Now this is more like it, something different and exciting. Umbro have rolled this fantastically unique St. George colourway onto all three of their boot ranges, and every one of them looks superb. Perfect for any patriotic Englishman, this colourway was extremely popular during SoccerAid last week! Unfortunately, this colourway is only available to consumers within Europe, although we can’t see why anybody but English people would want to buy them!

Puma – White/Limoges/Red

Concluding our boot round-up is the range of boots with the fantastically named white/limoges/red colourway (what exactly is limoges?). Puma have decided to include the launch colourway from the EvoSpeed I across all of their silos. Unfortunately, it looks rather plain and strikes me as Puma playing it safe, but to be fair to the German company.. It looks fantastic on the Puma King I SL.

However, it’s not the King SLs we are focusing on, but Puma’s two new releases; the Powercat 1.12 SL and EvoSpeed I. In regards to the Powercat, Puma have shed an astounding 2 ounces off the boot, making it weigh in at just 230g! Compare that to the supposedly ‘super lightweight’ Adidas Predator LZ, and the difference is negligible! We will have these boots in for testing in the coming months, and after SoccerReviews writer Jordon claimed; ‘these are one of the top three boots currently on the market’, we can’t wait to see how these perform!

However, the star of the show is the Puma EvoSpeed I. Weighing in at 190 grams (synthetic), these boots really are lightspeed, and the specs look fantastic. However, the most interesting aspect of this release is the introduction of an EvoSpeed across ten different sports. These include sprinting, football, basketball and so on.

So there you have it, the round-up of the major boot releases for the Euro’s this summer. Quite a variety of styles, I’m sure you’ll agree. Each of them has its own elegance, but our favourite range is definitely the ‘Clash’ collection. We’d love to know your favourite boot range for the coming Tournament though, so leave your comments below!