Over the next month, everyone will be looking for what boots are on display, enjoying 62 new World Cup football shirts and of course, will get tired of hearing about how much the ball is moving! But what about the goalkeepers, who will take a lot of the flack when the ball does indeed swerve out of control?

We’ve hunted around and drawn up this list of the goalkeeper gloves that the World’s top shot stoppers are trusting will get to grips with the Adidas Jabulani.

Top goalkeeper gloves in South Africa.

The clear winner at the 2010 World Cup is Uhlsport, with no less than 27 goalkeepers choosing to wear Uhlsport goalkeeper gloves. Among them are Pepe Reina of Spain and Liverpool, Jorg Butt of Bayern Munich and Germany and Itu Khune from the Kaizer Chiefs and South Africa, who as we write, has pulled a few great saves off in the first half of the opening match!

Joint second in the goalkeeper glove league are Reusch and Nike. Nike have both the USA’s top goalkeepers Tim Howard and Marcus Hahnemann wearing their gloves, along with Spain’s Victor Valdes. Reusch are the favourite goalkeeper gloves of Brazil stopper Julio Cesar and Mariano Adujar the 26 year old Argentinia goalkeeper.

Adidas and Sells can both boast 3 goalkeepers each, including Rob Green of England who wears Sells goalkeeper gloves, while Umbro have both David James and Joes hart.

Finally, Mitre and Reebok each have a goalkeeper in the shape of Mark Schwarzer and Iker Cassilas respectively.

Goooooooal!!! South Africa 1-0 Mexico, Oscar Perez and his Voit goalkeeper gloves had no chance, time to watch the rest of the game (and work)!

Other teams who will wear this shirt include Angola, Egypt, Mozambique, Togo, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco and Namibia.

The message behind the Africa Unity Kit, as well as Uniting Africa, is Play for Life, part of a partnership with UNEP, which supports the International Year of Diversity which aims to bring awareness to the need to conserve biodiversity and the environment.

The shirts design mirrors the African content, from the brown of the earth, to the blue of the sky, with yellow detailing representing the sun. The replica version comes with iron-on badges for Ivory Coast, Algeria, Cameroon and Algeria, so you can tailor which team you wish your shirt to represent, or add the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity badge and show support to a great cause.

Whichever badge you choose to use, if at all, the Africa Unity Shirt is a stunning football shirt which we can’t wait to see at the World Cup.

If you like the shirt and Africa Unity Kit, have a look at the Puma Powercat 1.10 Tricks, which continue the theme. They represent the core of Africa, and have a magma inspired sole so you can complete your kit from head to toe!

Visit our shop for more info on the Puma Africa Unit Shirt.

Much has been said recently about the Adidas Jabulani, the match football for the 2010 World Cup, called the Adidas Jo’Bulani when in it’s golden World Cup Final guise. Players and coaches have been speaking about it more than probably any other ball, while Adidas and the Jabulani’s designer have added their comments as well.

But why the interest? Isn’t a football a football? To help you understand why a football is making so much news, here are some of the facts behind what has been said to be the most advance football ever made.

The Adidas Jabulani design.

Made with just eight panels, which are thermally bonded to reduce the drag caused by traditional stitching, the Jabulani panels are pre-formed to make the ball the most perfectly spherical ball Adidas have ever produced.

As well as this, the ball has a textured surface, called “Grip n Groove” technology, which gives the ball the most stable flight characteristics for total precision. The dimpled surface is also beneficial for grip, for goalkeepers and outfield players who will be able to produce more spin if struck well. The Jabulani has also scored the best results in FIFA’s testing to validate the claims made by Adidas.

So what’s the problem then you might ask? Well, goalkeepers in particular do not like the ball due to it’s unpredictable flight patterns, which is more obvious at high altitude, as will be the case in South Africa.

Keepers including Gianluigi Buffon, David James, Julio Cesar and Marcus Hanneman have all slated the ball and how many errors it will force upon them, as have outfielders including Luis Fabiano, who could only call the ball “weird”.

Adidas have been quick to defend the ball, pointing out that it has been used in international competition since December. So is the criticism just a case of early excuses? Is the case that the pressure is beginning to build? We shall wait and see…

Each shirt has been designed to show the tradition of each country, but with a modern twist, none more modern than how the shirts have been made! Each of the Nike football shirts on offer at the World Cup has been made using up to eight recycled plastic bottles, which saves up to 30% in energy consumption over making the shirts from brand new polyester!

In total, Nike have reclaimed almost 13 million plastic bottles from landfill sites, a huge saving given that this would stretch out for 3,000 kilometres if the bottles were laid end to end.

That hasn’t changed Nike’s desire for innovation though, as the shirts are lighter than ever, and have improved Dri-Fit technology which  wicks sweat from the body to the outer layer of the shirt where it evaporates.

Ventilation zones feature on all shirts also to help players in South Africa’s warm climate.

All of these shirt are available to Order Now!

The Adidas AdiPure III and Adidas Predator X models are just a colour update, no new features to the boots, though we all think they look great, you can’t really go wrong with a black football boot though.

The Adidas F50 AdiZero though are all new! Gone is the Tunit element, and its place are dedicated Firm Ground and Soft Ground football boots. Yes, this might mean you have to buy two pairs if you really like them, but, there is a lot to be said for having a firm ground sole built only for firm surfaces… anyone who has suffered from wearing the wrong boots on a hard pitch will know!

The new F50 AdiZero have been designed with the same style of synthetic upper, called Sprintskin, which keeps them super lightweight, coming in at only 165 grams. The sole on the new boots, and the sock liner, are now fixed and offer more traction through a newly design stud set up.

Other features include TPU bands on the side of the boots for added support, asymmetrical lacing, which increases the boots sweet spot, and an external heel counter to protect the ankle.

All of the new Adidas World Cup Football Boots are available to order now!