I've been on vacation time these past weeks and a little bit disconected from all the football wrold. But I'm back, full of energy and ready to start investigating the gloves we will find the pros wearing on their pre season games to find if there's something special. I obviously had to start with Iker Casillas and his first games with his new club Oporto. I was awar that adidas had prepared a special edition for him, the adidas Ace Zones Pro, which he was going to wear with Real Madrid... but will he Maintain that exclusivity with the Portuguese club?
Iker Casillas in first training session with Oporto
In his first practic we could already see him wearing his exclusive model. But it seems like the team staff didn't know about some of his habits... Did you see those sleeves? Do you actually remember Casillas with a long sleeve? Plus, it's summer! But that long sleeve jersey was hiding a secret of his gloves which we would discover in further training sessions and games, when we finally saw him with a 3/4 jersey. I will leave a couple of photos to see if you can discover it by your self what was the strange element we could find in Iker Casillas's gloves.
Did you notice it? What's going on with the classic adidas double lap strap fastening in the wrist? Both photos are from different angles but you can defenitely tell something is not right with the fastening, it is too long and there's a part which is not attached to the wrist.
In this photo you can also see that Iker Casillas is wearing the synthetic version of the adidas ACE 15, aparentelly without any modification.
Which is the reason? My opinion is that one of the small modifications Iker Casillas asks for in his gloves is the strap fastening. His elastic strap only has one lap intead of two. A miscalculation of adidas, a couple of centimeters, if you also consider that Casillas has not been wearing bandaged on his wrists ... Enough reason for that extra lenth in the fastening. It is my theory, but might not be right. At the moment, Casillas has found an emergency solution ... What do you think?
Iker casillas cuts of part of the strap fastening
The second modification is the rubber piece we find at the base of the palm which is latex in this case. You can see it black but it's only painted over the latex, but with use, you can see it falls apart. Because that's another of his habits: he likes the gloves well used.
