Home / Product Reviews / First Impressions: 11Pro II

 

Samba-11pro-sidebyside

Considering how big a fan the entire footballing world has always been of the adiPure range from adidas, every incarnation of the boot has large shoes to fill. Although a good boot, the original 11Pro left many longtime fans of the adiPure range unsatisfied and became one of the few boots to see professionals actively leaving the silo for other boots. With the newest release, adidas will be looking to improve the 11Pro while attempting to bring back old fans and bring in new fans. Did they succeed?

After nearly 2 weeks with most of the Samba collection, we are not yet prepared to offer our full verdict on the new adidas boots, but we are ready to let everyone know what to expect with these new releases and share our initial thoughts of the boot range. First up, the 11Pro II:

11pro-samba-purple

The first thing to note for anyone hoping to bring in the new 11Pro would be the sizing. Although the final review will also mention this, going a half size down in this range offered a perfect fit. Especially considering the fact that any natural leather will stretch a bit, ordering your normal size will probably result in an awkward fit and will prevent you from enjoying the boot properly.

The second thing about this 11Pro has to be the inclusion of more leather, more stitching, and memory foam inserts around the primary use areas of the boot. The addition of the leather where the last 11Pro had a very plastic feeling band around the midfoot has been a massive improvement. For 99% of players, we love stroking around pass with the instep of the boot and the leather on this boot allows you to make those passes with ease. The extra stitching seems to be primarily for the inclusion of the memory foam in the upper, both of which seem to make for a much more cushioned area on the toe box. Although I expect this area of the boot to continue to soften with use, much like a higher quality leather, the initial softness is very impressive.

11pro-back-samba

The new soleplate seems like a step back towards the original adiZero soleplate with a slightly wider base. Gone are the conical studs, replaced by the almost-triangular studs that adidas has been fiddling with for several boot incarnations. With the new F50 studs being a completely new set-up, it seems like adidas might have made a good choice with the 11Pro II, but to claim it as new technology seems a bit of a stretch.

Keep an eye out for the full review within the next few weeks, but the new 11Pro definitely seems like a better mixture of past, present, and future than the original 11Pro. Although the bright purple color may not suit the average footballer, the boot beneath the paint job is certainly worth your time.

 

About the author: Andrew McCole

 

If I may be so bold to condense my immense personality into two words, it would be: soccer nerd. I love everything about the beautiful game and I tend to reflect that in my writing. I suffer through Liverpool fandom and hope that they will win another title before my wife spreads my ashes at Anfield (considering I'm in my twenties, it seems somewhat likely). Although I also dabble in tennis, teaching, and coaching, most of my free-time is spent writing articles.

 

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