CONCACAF Redux - Costa Rica

Onto a team that has been impressing everyone in Brazil.

The Ticos have a meh logo and meh uniform. I think they have a real chance of being CONCACAF's 3rd super power, based on their performance in the Hex and the World Cup. I started with a new logo. I had trouble getting started. I wanted something unique. I looked up "Costa Rican patterns" on google and it came up with tons of geometric patterns. I made my own, and used it as the centerpiece of the crest behind the ball. On the border, it says "Ticos Contigo" which is loosely translated to "Ticos With You", giving a sense of unity and support from the Costa Rican public. That phrase was used by BlackBolt3 on his Costa Rican concept in the Creamer World Cup and I thought it was absolutely genius.

The kits are cleaned up a lot. I switched them to nike, since I'm sure one of the big brands will pick them up after their results in Brazil. I wanted very simple. The sleeve band is white with a thin blue stripe running around it. I continued that pattern on the collar and socks. I found out a clash they used to wear was black and white stripes. I'm all about adding color to CONCACAF and I thought a Juventus look would look great for this team, and you can see how different the kits are color wise.

CONCACAF Redux - Mexico

I hate to do this on the day Mexico was eliminated(unfairly) from the World Cup.

The crest uses elements from the current, but I made cleaned it up a lot. I used bolder lines, a complete crest shape. Then I used every element from the current crest. The eagle was on top, but I put that in the middle of the green and red to mimic their flags. I traced and cleaned up the actual eagle eating the snake from the flag to put in the middle. On the empty space on the gold on the top and bottom, I put a mayan pattern. The current crest has a design similar to the Mayan calandar that supposedly ended the world in 2012. So I took the easy way out, and I thought it was a better representation without being in your face.

It's really hard to make a bad Mexico concept. You just need to do the Tri part of "El Tri". The Green top, white shorts, and red socks combo is up there with the Brazil Yellow/blue/white, and Dutch Orange kit on the scale of recognizable international kits. I didn't want to ruin the jersey with unnecessary designs(looking at you, Adidas). The home kit is very plain. But under the crest, I ran the pattern from the crest, ultimately gradienting out towards the bottom. The clash was originally all black with the same pattern, but it didn't look good. I slept on it and came back with fresh ideas. I like the idea of a red top with black pants like the current, but I changed it slightly. The red is more pink now, similar to the colors Adidas force down peoples throats during March Madness. The new pattern on the front gradients out at the bottom, but the designs around the crest are darker to stand out. The pink and black really complimented eachother, and were different enough from the green to get me to keep it. The numbers are just a skiny font with a little shadow to somewhat mimic the current adidas font(which i have ut wanted to do my own thing.)

CONCACAF Redux - United States

First is the team I root for, the United States of America

The crest is inspired by mixing elements from crests the team have used. I know how well recieved the Centenial set they used in 2013 was. I wanted to have a modern look, but used the Centenial as a base. The Centenial set had a badge with stars and stripes. I took a similar crest shape(not exact, but it's similar in a way) to use as the base of the crest. One thing I noticed is that they squeezed the 13 stripes on the flag onto the badge. The crests the US have used since the early 90s all have a flying soccer ball. I thought that it would be great to update it and keep the tradition going, symbolizing the trajectory US soccer is going on(-cricket noises-). Instead of USA on the crest, I went with the acronym of the US Soccer Federation. It seemed more professional and exact instead of something cheap that someone would rip off and sell at Target.

The white kit is very bland and bold like the Centenial kits. The red is from me loving the Bomb Pop kits, and I felt that an all red look might be interesting compared to another navy top. I had a lot of fun with this one. I wanted to do the red and white hooped jerseys so bad, but decided against it. I did what I could and put darker red hoops on the kit. The numbers are a simple block font like the 2013 kits, but with a drop shadow. There's also a small crest on the bottom of the number.

CONCACAF Redux

I've been having a rough time being creative recently, and have pretty low confidence in my designs. I think that I just need a few concepts under my belt that I'm really confident about, then maybe I can get my groove back. Here is my new series. The beauty is that I have no time frame, or amount of teams I need to do.

So with the recent success of CONCACAF in the World Cup, I felt the need to go through and rebrand the members of the federation. For the most part, the CONCACAF crests are pretty weak, which are paired with sub-par jerseys. I want to completely redo (maybe) every team I could in the federation.

I started with the logo of CONCCAF. Currently, it's a pentagon with a soccerball in the middle. Check it out, it's subpar. My logo, which you can see above, was designed somewhat simply. The full name of CONCACAF is the Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football. The colors around the ball represent the 3 parts of North America geographically. The top one is red for North America. The left one is blue for Central America. Then finally the right one is yellow for the Caribbean countries. Those colors correspond to their part of the acronym in the script logo. The logo could also be navy or white, depending on the background. I actually wasn't sold on the font I used, especially the O, but the O in CONCACAF is "of" so I thought the least important part of the acronym could be different from the rest.

But yeah! I have some soccer concepts for teams in North America to post for you guys.

Netherlands - CCWC

I've taken a break doing concepts, just kinda living it up during my summer. But I started aother competition on the Creamer boards. Essentially, I had 32 designers sign up for a World Cup contest. Then randomly assigned them to a nation in the World Cup. I got the Dutch, and won my group! Here is the concept I submitted.

The Dutch have one of the most recognizable kits in the field. In every world cup they’ve entered in the modern era, the Oranje has been prominent in their main jersey, and in the stands. I went classic orange/white/orange, rather than monochrome orange, or black shorts that have been used recently. The full body lion remains the centerpiece, with a transparent badge and crown taken directly from the coat of arms. I did some Easter eggs on the uniform too. I hid the team nickname on the back, made the Nike arm pit holes tulips (which are prominent in Dutch culture), and put the crown from the crest on the numbers. The alternate is the colors from the flag, compared to the navy color they currently rock. So yeah, Hup Holland Hup!

1953 World Baseball Cup

The opening ceremonies were held, and Taylor drew the 2 groups. Group A would play at Yankee Stadium. The 4 teams in this group were the host US team, Cuba, Venezuela, and Canada. The 4 teams in Group B playing at the Polo Grounds were Japan, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. There would be 2 games a day, in a double header format. The groups would go on different days, so fans could make it to every game. At the ceremonies, some rules were cleared up, such as a coin toss determining the home team for games not including the host (who would be all-time home). The best 2 records would determine who advances to the playoff round. The tie breaker would be head to head, and then run differential.

The WBC's first game was played between the US and Canada at Yankee Stadiu on a cold New York Day. The US went out and absolutely dominated their group. It was bound to happen with players like Warren Spahm, Jackie Robinson, Stan Musial, and Joe DiMaggio. The other teams were made up of a handfull of Major League players. Japan's roster was made up entirely of NPL players, considered the 2nd best baseball league in the world, and it showed. Japan went out and won their 3 first round games. But the Japanese fans weren't completely sold on the team, due to each one being a squeeker 1 run victory. A player on the Puerto Rican team did turn some heads by Major League scouts. That player was a young 18 year old named Roberto Clemente. Clemente was a big part of the reason Puerto Rico was able to advance to the next round.

In the elimination round, both games were very close, and it came down to the pitchers. The Puerto Ricans held the US to 3 runs, the least they scored so far, but could only score 2. Meanwhile, the Japanese batters couldn't bail out the pitching one last time in a 6-4 loss to Cuba. That set up the final at Yankee Stadium. The Cubans took the US to extra innings in a tight 1-1 battle. Mickey Mantle doubled off the wall in the 11th inning, scoring the runner from 1st, and winning the tournament for the US. This was a great moment, due to Mantle doing it in his home ballpark.

The first World Baseball Cup had its pluses and negatives. The crowds were pretty decent, and a fan base was established. Baseball was on display for the world, and it showed how good the US was compared to other counties. That was a negative, however. Many reporters said the US could’ve played better if the competition was better. The traveling fans commented that the host was too cold. Taylor commented that the stadiums deemed big enough to host games in the US were all in the North. He assured that this wouldn’t be a problem in the future because of the rotating hosts. In an interview after the WBC, Taylor leaked that the 1957 competition would be held in Tokyo.

Canada

Simple C logo with a maple leaf in the center. The uniform is simple red piping running down the sleeve.

Cuba

I made a Cuba cursive script on the chest, with the C acting as the cap logo. The uniforms had double piping all over.

Dominican Republic

I used the current Dominican cap logo because it’s exactly what I wanted. I only put a translated Dominicana script since the full name is so long.

Japan

I put the Nippon on the jersey instead of Japan, and worked from there. That’s probably the biggest thing. The cap logo is an N with the sun from the flag in the middle.

Mexico

The Mexican set are completely clean with no piping. I wanted to emphasize the green since it was unique to the country. The script is a cursive Mexico with the cap logo being the M.

Puerto Rico

I wanted to make these ones stand out from the other red/blue teams. The sleeves are red, which is the biggest difference. The cap is an interlocking PR in blue, which is similar to the Indians’ current red cap.

USA

I went traditional with these. An Interlocking US logo on the chest and cap. Navy is the main color in these, making the US stand out.

Venezuela

I went with a simple V logo with the stars from the flag over top. I made Venezuela be the only team with pinstripes, which looked good with maroon. The script is a simple cursive script with the stars over top.

World Baseball Cup

In an alternate reality, a high profile World Cup of baseball happened. Over the years, the best players in the MLB from all over the world competed to bring the true World Series home. Here is the story.

In 1950, Major League Baseball had already been around for almost 50 years. The US was baseball crazy in a post war society. Some of the best players ever played in this era. Halfway across the globe, the Nippon Professional League was being reformed and restarted. In an interview after being announced as league commissioner in 1951, Morita Fukui stated that he thought the new Nippon Professional League was on par with or better than the MLB. New MLB commish Ford Frick replied to the statement with a proposal. An MLB-NPL all-star game between the two leagues. There was a debate over which country would host the series. The American public were scared to send their best players to a country that had been at war with the US as recently as 6 years before. Stars like Ted Williams and Jackie Robinson said that the exhibition would help relations between the two countries, and would be eager to sign up. Through translators, the new commissioners worked together a plan to host a 3 game series in Washington DC in November of 1951. The capitol was warmer this time of year than Tokyo, and that was said to be the deciding factor. The World Series ended with the Yankees beating the Giants in 6 games. Yankees manager Casey Stengel was named the manager of the MLB team, with Joe DiMaggio helping him on the bench. His roster was heavy on the Yankees. The team was almost all Americans, except for White Sox short stop Chico Corrasquel, and outfielder Minnie Minoso (who only played 3 innings in game 3). It was said that the team put together was the best team ever put together. Imagine, there was a debate on whether Ted Williams or Stan Musial would start in Left. The NPL team was consisted of many Yomiuri Giants, fresh off winning the Japan series. MLB stars would go on to sweep the Japanese, asserting dominance for the American League. In the crowd for those 3 games was entrepreneur and business man Lou Taylor. He saw potential in this game. He wrote a letter to Frick explaining that this exhibition may have been bigger than they could’ve imagined. Taylor had been in Brazil in 1950, in time for the World Cup. 15 of the best in the world all in one place competing for international fame and national pride. But the problem was that soccer was foreign to the American. He had the idea of a baseball World Cup on the flight home. The letter he wrote was the framework for a World Cup of baseball. Eight teams could travel to the rotating host city every 4 years to be split up into 2 groups, then compete in a playoff to determine the best team in the world. 

Frick invited Taylor to his office to go into detail of the project that December. Taylor said that the Americans and Canadians have the MLB, the Japanese were building up their league, and the Caribbean League had just started several years ago. Baseball was growing, and it would be idiotic to not try and capitalize on the expanding markets. He created 8 hypothetical rosters for the 8 countries he imagined would participate, and set a goal to have the first tournament in 1953. Frick was so excited about the new idea that he hired Taylor and formed the International Baseball Federation, the new governing body of international baseball. Taylor began working on getting everyone on board. Fukui was on board, and got on the horn to the Japanese owners and managers. Taylor took the train up to Montreal, and got the leaders of the International League champion Montreal Royals on board and to start forming a Canadian National Team. But where baseball was expanding the most was in Latin America. Frick and Taylor both went to Panama City to the 1952 Caribbean Series. There, they had set in motion the teams for Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Venezuela. Panama thought that they had other priorities, and declined Taylor’s offer. There were 6 teams signed up, and the tournament was getting some coverage in the US. Some critics claimed that the US would destroy the competition because no one does America’s Pastime better than the Americans. With the news going around the clubhouses at spring training, Bobby Avila of the Cleveland Indians got in contact with Taylor. Avila said if he was given a chance, he could put together a Mexican team. Taylor got the contacts to teams in the Mexican League and got the country on board with the idea of a baseball world cup. The tournament needed another team to be even. In Panama, the Puerto Rican manager had told Taylor to possibly look at the Dominican Republic as another team. But there hadn’t been any Dominican players in the MLB yet, so Taylor had them down as the last resort because they’d be embarrassed. The military dictatorship had a few teams, and signed some Negro League players in 1937. The Dominican League had started playing in 1951, but the sport had grown under dictator rule of Rafael Trujillo. Trujillo said the Dominican Republic would send their 1952 champion to the world cup and win the gold. Taylor agreed and had all 8 teams set for the first inaugural World Baseball Cup.

Meanwhile, Frick had arranged the host of the tournament. The 8 teams would play in New York at the Yankees and Giants stadiums. One group would play at Yankee Stadium, and the other would play at the Polo Grounds. The teams would be randomly drawn several days before the tournament. New York was chosen specifically for their two stadiums. They were picked because it was warmer than Chicago in February. This put the Latin American countries at a disadvantage because of the climate. Before the tournament, the traveling teams would settle in Florida and use the spring training homes of MLB teams a month before they got there. In Florida, they could work down the roster to 25 men, and train for the tournament. With the proximity, every once in a while the teams would scrimmage to see where they were in comparison. The Cuban team played at Plant Field in Tampa, the Mexicans played at Henley Field in Lakeland, and the Japanese brought 25 men to Tinker Field in Orlando. The Americans went to St. Pete’s Al Lang Stadium, home of the Yankees spring training in order to settle in ahead of the 1953 season. After a month of work, and some hard cuts the 8 teams were ready to fly to New York. 

I’m going to go tournament by tournament, releasing uniforms and logos for the participating teams. If anyone has time, or interest, I’m looking to adding actual player names to my stories, and some research into some players that could play for their country during their career (ie Bert Blyleven for the Netherlands in the 70s.) I have a list of players, but I would love some help because I will probably miss some players.