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Well the latest color in the Nike Mercurial line is out, and I’ve got to say I like it. The bright orange on black looks classy, and really makes the Nike swoosh pop. I know many of you reading this will already be fans of the Mercurials, and have a great grasp on their features, but here they are again.
Perhaps the best know feature of the Nike Mercurials Vapor is its lightweight, speed design which is built with the speedy striker in mind. For my part, the boots are very light on my feet, and do really like that feature. Near the end of the match, my legs are always tired, and the difference of only a few grams feels like several pounds less on my feet. These boots are no different, and weight a paltry 230 grams. The upper is another part of the shoe I’m a big fan of.
Often in soccer shoes I love the fell of the soleplate, and comfort, but find the touch lacking. In these boots, the Teijin synthetic leather on the upper allows me to be comfortable, but way it molds itself to my foot makes sure I can get a good feel for the ball. They have also added coating on the forefoot of these soccer shoes that is supposed to make the ball stick to your feet better on the run, allowing to control the ball not just tap it away from your opponents.
As for the chassis, is made of glass fibre, which means it’s lightweight, but flexible. And no, you won’t get glass in your foot. As for the studs, they are injected in order to add inner strength to them so you’re not slogging through with the thick heavy ones Nike have used in the past. Apparently this reduces the weight 12% from the previous version, and while I didn’t actually put it on a scale and compare it to a Vapor V, it is loads lighter. The cleat pattern itself is designed for stability and traction when sprinting so it won’t give a driect speed boost, but you will be able to apply more force to the ground in all the right places. The insole is comfortable, and I can’t feel the cleats on my foot too much during a match, other than that they look amazing.
Overall a great shoe for a great price, $239.99 at soccepro.com
Written by: Matthew Wall, editor, soccerprose.com
