Aaron Hope 
One of the world’s great sporting events is right around the corner, as the twentieth FIFA World Cup is set to kick off in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in just over two months. The Global Game’s quadrennial international competition has been the impetus for several special edition sneaker releases in 2014, with Nike Sportswear leading the way thanks to various contributions from their vast archives. Here, they delve deeper into the history of the iconic boot using Nike Sportswear’s Air Max 1 silhouette as the grand stage.
After celebrating the very first Swoosh soccer cleats with the newly street-ready Tiempo ’94 Mid, NSW shifts their attention to more modern football boots by way of a model known to do the FB thing from time to time. The Nike Air Max 1 ‘Mercurial Pack’ is a foursome of ’87s coming up with a release on Saturday that echoes a recent Mercurial pack that Nike dropped, which had their most modern of Mercurial boots reviving colorways of old. Let’s have a quick lesson on this set and the Mercurial Vapor boots that inspired them:
The Nike Air Max 1 FB “Mercurial Pack” will release at select Nike Sportswear retailers on April 12th, 2014 for $130 each.
Metallic Silver/Black-Volt
The first pair in terms of chronological order of its inspiration is the one drawing on the first Mercurial Vapor from 2002. As was the case with the initial Mercurial release in 1998, Brazilian sensation Ronaldo was chosen as the signature athlete. El Fenomeno also has tribute colorways of his own, with last year’s 15th anniversary release as well as a ‘Fast Forward ’02’ makeup on the boot we’ll examine on the final page.
Vibrant Yellow/Black-Neo Lime
In the second pair based on the 2006 Mercurial Vapor III R9, we see that the pack will follow the past few World Cups en route to the contemporary design. The boot upon which this colorway is based was Nike’s first soccer shoe under 200g. It ended up connected to a historic performance from Ronaldo that year, who brought his World Cup goal total to a record breaking 15 points.
Atomic Violet/Black-Total Orange
The 2010 referencing entry into the lineup comes via this Air Max 1 FB oriented towards the Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly II, which was designed specifically with on-pitch visibility in mind and had some burning oranges sections across the upper to help achieve that goal. Chirstiano Ronald was the flag bearer for these boots in that year’s World Cup and he picked up a trio of Man of the Match awards with these on feet.
Polarized Blue/Total Crimson-Neo Lime
Rounding out the set is a pair based on the current Nike flagship football boot, the Mercurial Vapor IX. These don’t have the obvious gradient present on the Polarized Blue/Neo Lime edition of the cleats, nor do they possess an obvious iridescent finish, though the color certainly isn’t 100% lime. It’s worth mentioning that the Mercurial Vapor IX referenced is sort of a modern take on the first ever Mercurial made back in 1998 with those Brazil colors. The upper’s Speed Control texture is a key element and covers this pair more so than any other in the set.
Photos: Union Sports Store/Foot Patrol
