Studs Up

I’m a big boot-head and while I’ve generally gravitated towards the traditional – kangaroo leather, straight lace systems etc. But ever since Ronaldo (there is only one Ronaldo and he’s Brazilian) sported a pair of awesomely silver boots in the World Cup many years ago, the Nike Mercurial line has been a siren’s call for me. Alluring, tempting and always has me checking on the new release.

But I never got over the tipping point to buying a them but couldn’t really say no when Nike sent me a complimentary pair of the 2008 Nike Mercurial Vapor IV last year. In a gaudy orange colourway, I decided I may as well give them a run out in my Sunday league. I found them to be light and interestingly the contact I could get on the ball was really good. Sadly I couldn’t justify wearing neon orange boots regularly and shelved them.

Fast forward to this summer and my friends at SoccerPro got in touch to see if I’d be interested in testing out the incredibly hyped Nike Mercurial Superfly. The lightest boot ever (185 grams) with Flywire technology taken from their Track & Field line of shoes and a sole built from some kind of licensed, industrial material called Tepex that is more commonly found in airplanes and the bumpers of luxury cars. The price tag? Around GBP 220 (USD 350) and, even better, it was coming in a sick black and yellow colourway (one of my favourite colour combinations and commonly used by Nike).

I couldn’t believe they thought they would even have to ask.

In an outstanding display of perfect timing, the boots arrived the morning of my Sunday League league semi-final and final (assuming we won the semi) matches. The likes of Nike and adidas choose to unveil boots on the biggest stages (see Leo Messi kissing the f50i after scoring in the CL final) and now I had my own miniature version. I was giddy.

The unboxing photos are below, but as expected this is a ridiculously high quality boot. I have some weird quirks in my feet (my second toe is longer than the “big” one) so I often find certain boot fits incredibly uncomfortable from the moment I put them on, luckily no such misfortune with the Superflys. They fit snug and comfortably and after a few sprints up and down my hallway I was ready to go. I did have to skip the final hole on the lacing as it was digging into the front of my ankle, but I had no issues with the fit at that.

Ultimately the proof would be in the pudding – how would the boots perform in my Sunday League final matches? I wore two pairs of socks as the Vapors are a notoriously tough to break in as well as the fact that Nike had delayed the Superfly’s launch from April because they had a tendency to explode during games. Strangely, I quickly found my left foot going to sleep even in the warm up, which was a new quirk even after all my feet have put me through. So after adjusting to a double-right and single-left sock system we got under way.

The result? I put away a hattrick in the semi and two more in the final as we won the lot. 4 of my 5 goals were long range strikes as I once again found the Mercurial line delivering very crisp contact with the ball. They were incredibly light, it’s almost tough to believe until you get a good run in them and I felt spry and lively across both games even though they were back to back. Not being self conscious about the colourway was also a nice change.

Overall, it’s tough to justify spending this kind of money on a pair of football boots but if you can afford it you’ll definitely know you are wearing something unique in look and quality of construction. Not much more you can ask for than that.