France and Brazil once played a friendly using kits from more than 100 years ago
0-0.
The record books will show that France’s meeting with Brazil on 20 May 2004 was a dull affair.
But for kit fanatics it was a once in a century occurrence.
Please do not head
France and Brazil were selected as the two nations to spar in FIFA’s centenary match.
To give you a quick history lesson, FIFA was founded in 1904, although the first international game took place between England and Scotland 32 years earlier.
But, as World Cup holders and European champions, it was Brazil and France who had the honour of bowing down at the alter of Sepp Blatter.
Of course, in order to do so, both sides needed some original kits.
It’s widely known that Roger Milla took part in the first game of football
France’s side boasted a healthy dose of 1998 World Cup winners- think Lilian Thuram, Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry- mixed with Jean-Alain Boumsong and Olivier Kapo, of Wigan fame.
Les Bleus’ ensemble consisted of blue collared shirts, long cream shorts, red socks and a belt.
Think Tesco’s shelve stacker meets dad on a rugby tour in the south of France.
The kit paid homage to France’s first kit, worn in a 3-3 draw with Belgium on 1 May 1904.
Not safe for Gary Lineker
Brazil’s side was no less star-studded.
Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Kaka, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo were the standout inclusions while Juninho Pernambucano’s ability to score free-kicks from anywhere on the pitch brought intrigue.
Their main task was making a white shirt with a lace-up collar- a nod to Brazil’s first game in 1914- look stylish.
A tough ask, even if you’ve got Ronaldo’s magical feet up front.
The pre-match photo game was never the same again
The game kicked off in front of a stadium-record 79,344 spectators at the Stade de France with a replica ball from 1904 looking surprisingly at home in the centre circle.
As the goalless scoreline suggests, the game was a damp squib, although the 0-0 scoreline, mirroring the result of England v Scotland 132 years prior, was fitting.
The biggest talking point was the booing of Marcel Desailly and Claude Makelele.
A month before the prestige friendly both Desailly and Makelele had been involved in Andreas Zikos’ sending off when Monaco met Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final.
Last one to touch their head has to go home
The festival of fashion concluded when Brazil and France came out in their modern kits for the second half.
Presumably the crowd then departed en masse, safe in the knowledge that they would forever know what it felt like to watch future Hull legend Bernard Mendy mark Ronaldinho.
We’re off to feed our horse and listen to ‘Now That’s What I Call Music 1904’.
Simply loveleh
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