World Cup uniforms: A closer look at Group G's kits

With the 2014 FIFA World Cup getting underway tomorrow we've been taking a group-by-group look at what each of the uniforms the 32 participating nations will wear and how they compare to their kits of World Cups past.

We've already looked at the uniforms of Groups A, B, C, D, E, and F. Today it's Group G, G for Germany! And also maybe Ghana, certainly not Portugal or the United States, but they're in there too.

GERMANY

Local name: Deutschland
Flag: Three horizontal stripes, black, red, and yellow. The three colors have had numerous meanings over the years, they currently represent German unity and personal freedoms.
World Cup Titles: 3 (1954, 1974, 1990)
World Cup Appearance: 18th (1934-38, 1954-2014)

The Germans will be wearing white as their primary kit with a dark-red-to-lighter-red gradient chevron across the chest, three white stars arched over the circular national football association crest symbolize their three previous World Cup victories (as West Germany). The secondary kits are black with red horizontal stripes throughout the body.

Germany wears uniforms designed by adidas so naturally three stripes are placed on each shoulder because it appears the manufacturer brand is as important as the national one. Along the back of each jersey is the phrase "Die Nationalmannschaft", "National-mann-schaft" (stop that snickering) is German for "National Team", a local nickname for the German side.

The Germans have always worn a white jersey as their primary kit and they've been relatively clean (aside from a couple of head scratchers courtesy adidas in the 1990s). For eight straight tournaments from 1970 until 1998 the Germans wore green as their secondary color, not a color one would usually associate with Germany. They switched to black in 2002 and have used it (usually with a strong red presence) through to this day.

GHANA

Local name: Ghana
Flag: Three horizontal stripes with a star in the middle. The three stripes are red (blood of those who fought for the country), yellow (mineral wealth), and green (rich forests). The black star in the middle represents African emancipation. It was designed in 1957 and adopted for good in 1966.
World Cup Titles: 0
World Cup Appearance: 3rd (2006-14)

Puma's primary kits for Team Ghana are white with a special design applied around the collar and cuffs. The pattern is based off of the Kente cloth design which is native to the Akan ethnic group of Southern Ghana, this pattern being worn here is a custom design made specifically for the World Cup. Ghana is wearing plain white shorts with this jersey.

On the secondary jersey that same Kente cloth pattern is carried over but as a sublimated design on the red jersey body, it can also be seen in full color on each sleeve cuff of the secondary. The pattern is continued onto the red shorts paired with this shirt, it will be sublimated just like on the jersey.

Ghana is a newbie in the World Cup tournament, 2014 will be their third appearance ever and also their third appearance in a row. They have worn a Puma designed all-white primary for each appearance with a red secondary. This year will be their first sporting that custom Kente cloth design.

PORTUGAL

Local name: Portugal
Flag: Two vertical bands, one green and one red, with the national coat of arms. The green represents the hope of the Portuguese people while red is the blood spilled defending the country.
World Cup Titles: 0
World Cup Appearance: 6th (1966, 1986, 2002-14)

Portugal will be wearing red kits as their primary look in 2014. The Nike-designed uniform is a darker shade of red with light red "hoops" of varying widths and spacing on the upper half. The national badge, which is a simplified version of their national coat of arms, will be flanked by the years "1914" and "2014" symbolizing their football associations 100th anniversary.

As their secondary the Portuguese team will be wearing white (per usual) but with blue trim (not per usual), this will mark the first time since their World Cup debut in 1966 that they've gone white and blue in the Cup -- they typically go white, green, and red. Like the primary set the national badge will also be marking their 100th anniversary on this jersey.

Portugal goes red, like their flag, every time out but they've really played with the shade of red used over the years. In 2002 and 2006 it could be argued they were wearing more of a burgundy than a red. The one constant has been the use of green as a trim color although 2014 will be the least amount of green the club has ever worn in the World Cup, now reduced to just an outline on the primary collar.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Local name: United States of America
Flag: A blue field of 50 white stars (one for each state in the country), thirteen red and white horizontal stripes representing the original 13 colonies.
World Cup Titles: 0
World Cup Appearance: 10th (1930-50, 1990-2014)

The U.S. squad will hit the World Cup wearing their most muted primary kit design to date, a simple white jersey with thin red stripes around the collar and at the sleeves. A blue triangular field of white stars is placed on the inside back collar. The Americans did make a change to their national federation logo, they lightened up the colors of it to be more in line with the actual colors of the U.S. flag.

While I'm not that offended by the American secondary uniform it was the target of social media hate when first unveiled as it was likened to cans of Pepsi, Rocket Popsicles, and rubber balls. Nike has the U.S. side wearing a mostly red uniform with a thick white horizontal stripe across the chest and a blue one above that running the rest of the way up. Inside the back collar is thirteen red and white stripes, pulled right from the flag.

USA has been trying to find a consistent look for several years now, it looked like they may have found it in 2010 by bringing back the classic diagonal sash from 1950 but it's gone again in 2014. What we do know for sure is that we're glad the 1994 design is long dead and long buried.

That's all for Group G, we'll wrap this marathon up tomorrow with Group H - Algeria, Belgium, Russia, and South Korea.