Bringing a whole heap of early millennium nostalgia, Mizuno have launched the Wave Cup Legend: a faithful recreation of the boot that Brazilian playmaker and all round don, Rivaldo wore at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
The astute among you may be think these look more familiar then 2002, and you'd be right – Mizuno did release a similar remake back in 2014. So, why do it again? The answer to that would be well, why the hell not? After all, we’re talking about one of the greatest players of the modern era and one of the finest early millennium boots, which served to put Mizuno on the course to big things.
For those of you lucky enough to be too young to remember Rivaldo’s exploits, he went on to earn three Man of the Match awards in the 2002 World Cup, scoring five goals along the way to Brazil lifting the trophy. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg; you can easily waste a few days by accidentally slipping into a Rivaldo YouTube marathon.
This latest re-release is far more faithful than the 2014 version, switching up the white tongue in favour of the original blue. The only difference? It now features five stars as opposed to 2002’s four, thanks to the Selecao’s success in that tournament.
The predominantly white boots feature flashes of blue and yellow, which looked so good with the Brazil kit back in 2002. The soleplate is a one-to-one recreation, utilising Rivaldo’s signature stud formation and featuring the heel window that lets you see the Compact Wave technology.
As far as faithful recreations go this is spot on, but be aware, this is a limited release with only 2002 pairs available globally. We see what they’ve done there...
The Mizuno Wave Cup Legend is available now at prodirectsoccer.com
