Friday 16 April 2010

Match Attax World Cup Edition

There are only 60 days until the start of the Football World Cup in South Africa. The World Cup fever that descends across England has already started; predictions of raising the FIFA trophy as winning finalists, concerns that England have some great players just not a great squad, player infidelity/injuries, will the girlfriends/wives be allowed to attend and so on. However all English football fans look towards the first game of Group C on the 12th June, that just happens to be England verses the USA.
At present there are 3 different 'World Cup' card/sticker sets available to collect. Topps foray into the football market continues with Match Attax World Cup Edition.
A unique feature for this set, which is not unusual to US collectors, but almost unheard of this side of the pond, is a supermarket special edition pack. The supermarket that has secured this exclusive is TESCO's, who appear to have their fingers in almost every single pie - mobile phones, Internet, insurance, clothing, food! and now collectable trading cards. No extra publicity however, these packs will be referred to as 'International Legend packs'.
I purchased 5 packs on a recent shopping trip. They weren't hard to miss, a massive display as you entered the store. Each of the International Legend packs has 7 cards, the regular packs contain 6 cards. What did the five 'Legend' packs reveal...

Pack 1:
Sir Geoff Hurst England International Legend
Rafael Van Der Vaart Holland
William Gallas France
Nikola Zigic Serbia
Vincente Del Bosque Spanish Manager
Carlos Pavon Honduras
Aaron Lennon England
Pack 2:
Marco Van Basten Holland Star Legend
Fabio Capello England manager
Theofanis Gekas Greece
Waldo Ponce Chile
Carlton Cole England
Wes Brown England
Wayne Rooney England MOM
Pack 3:
Marcel Desailly France International Legend
Jong Tae-Se Korea DPR
Karim Ziani Algeria
Mark Schwarzer Australia
Arthur Boka Ivory Coast
Marcus Tulio Tanaka Japan
Clint Dempsey USA Star Player
Pack 4:
Zico Brazil International Legend
Micheal Ballack Germany
Eduardo Portugal
Fabio Grosso Italy
Iker Casillas Spain
Bakary Sagna France
Park Si-Jung Korea Republic Star Player
Pack 5:
Franz Beckenbauer Germany International Master
Gilberto Silva Brazil
Jean Makoun II Cameroon
Dunga Brazilian Manager
Wayne Bridge England
MacBeth Sibaya South Africa
Stephen Appiah Ghana Star Player

I must admit to liking these special inserts, some brilliant names from the World of football past. I did purchase 1 additional (non-special insert) pack containing 6 cards.

Park Ji-Sung Korea Rebublic Star Player
Robert Koren Slovenia
Marek Hamsik Slovakia
Ramon Nunez Honduras
Serdar Tasci Germany
Arien Robben Holland
If I do decide to purchase any further packs, they will be the International Legend packs. For some reason, I'm sure it is psychological, the packs appear to be lacking without the legend insert. As always if your interested in any packs or packs just e-mail.

3 comments:

Captain Canuck said...

so the cards are the exact same in both versions, except with the Tesco packs, you get an exclusive Legends insert?

cool..... I likeeee...

Tony Mc said...

Wales have not qualified for the world cup (will they ever?!) so there arent any players that I want. But the legends look really good so I might have to pick up a pack or two when I hit tescos later.

PunkRockPaint said...

It has been a while since I have sent anything your way...I have been piling up Red Sox cards for you for a while. I may need to work out a trade for some of these... :)