The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Thursday, June 10

Hey, everyone!

I was about to make a request of you to take a small break from talking about a manager to talk about kits, but I need to make that request of Tottenham and the news cycle, not you.

Ramble of the Day

A delayed period of international football finally begins Friday, and while pandemic-related fixture congestion may make the play less than ideal, there are still kits to discuss. Let’s start with the Euros, a tournament that is sure to start — if you take a quick look at the links, you’ll see the Copa América cannot keep similar company at the time of writing.

It would be a nuisance to go through every one of the 50 different shirts designed for this tournament, so I will present my top three and bottom three. There were very few abysmal kits, so I’d like to congratulate the powers that be for that. There were a number of well-designed kits with some very subtle but wonderful details, but most of them could not crack the top because the subtlety makes them invisible from any distance.

Let’s start with my favorites, building up to the best.

3. Sweden’s away kit

Photo by Linnea Rheborg/Getty Images

This is like an inverted IKEA uniform, and I think it works. It helps that the base is a really nice navy blue, and it pairs nicely with the traditional Swedish yellow. It also seems like a fun kit to style with other items of clothing, so I can’t help but develop a fondness for it.

2. Wales’ home kit

Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images

There were not a ton of genuinely unique kits for this tournament, but a lot that fit an aesthetic I like: classic with a notable twist. The shades of red and yellow are truly great both individually and together, and I’m a sucker for a colorful sleeve detail like that.

1. The Netherlands’ home kit

Photo by NESImages/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

This edition of Euro kits is about not drifting too far from minimalism, and the Netherlands is a serial winner in that category. It, too, has a subtle design that is not visible from a distance but even then, the color with some black detail will always be an iconic and likable kit. I can’t help but love a color like that.

I have run out of compliments, so let’s move on to the worsts.

3. Slovakia’s away kit

Photo by VLADIMIR SIMICEK/AFP via Getty Images

This is an unacceptable attempt at minimalism because it is just a white t-shirt with the necessary symbols at the top.

2. The away kits of the Czech Republic, Italy, and Switzerland

Excuse the appearance of Austria’s aways, but these all look like random shirts one could buy at a team’s online shop but you would never see the actual players wear it. There is no attempt at design here, just dropping some essential details in the most basic of templates.

1. Turkey’s away kit

Photo by Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Another t-shirt, but this time a red one! The weird thing is that there is supposed to be a chest strip that houses the star and crescent, and that it is supposed to be a different shade of red. It barely pops, and when it does in other photos, the two-tone element weirdly falls flat. It’s like there was no effort put in, and I despise it for that reason.

tl;dr: I ranked the Euro kits, and present my top three and bottom three.

Stay informed, read this: manager Gareth Southgate on the pride and responsibility that comes with representing England and refusing to stick to sports for The Players’ Tribune

Links of the Day

Brazil’s top court scheduled an emergency session for today to decide whether or not the Copa América will take place in the country.
Additionally: Mastercard and Ambev will no longer sponsor the Copa América after the tournament’s controversial move to Brazil.

The six English clubs that planned to join the European Super League will pay a collective £22m to the Premier League in a settlement.

Wolves hired Bruno Lage to succeed Nuno Espírito Santo.

The USL W League, a pre-professional league for women in the US, will launch in 2022.

Transfers: OL Reign signed Alana Cook from PSG; Racing Louisville signed Nadia Nadim on a free

A longer read: Ciaran Varley interviews hip hop duo Krept and Konan on the process of creating England’s anthem for the Euros for the BBC