The World Cup Ball

[ronanm]

In preparation for the debate...

[Fernandinho]

i reckon it isnt as cool as past balls

[Exiled_red]

I predict it will be lighter, move more in the air; making things more difficult for goalkeepers and will be predicted to produce more goals

[Tee]

I predict it will be lighter, move more in the air; making things more difficult for goalkeepers and will be predicted to produce more goals

[little dave hedgehog]

exiled red beat me to it.

[Ben_Itez]

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/early-doors/article/247498/

There is profound concern in the England camp at the players' inability to get used to the Adidas Jabulani World Cup ball.

The Sun reports that the squad have been made to look like "Sunday league scuffers", which ED can quite believe - but doesn't think it has anything to do with the ball.

A source said the ball has been moving "all over the place" while a piddling 800m of altitude has apparently made things worse.

England now face a "race against time" to adjust in time for their first game on June 12.

A shame the Premier League's deal with Nike means the Jabulani is new to England's players, unlike Germany where it has been used in the Bundesliga for much of the season.

Just once, can a new World Cup ball be introduced without it being condemned as the death of football?

Early Doors remembers gripes about the ball going back to 1994, when a new version supposedly caused chaos - a point ITV illustrated by getting Don Howe to yell over the top of a montage consisting entirely of Packie Bonner's howler against Holland and a mistake by the Cameroon keeper.

In 2002, Gianluigi Buffon likened the Fevernova to "a child's balloon" - presumably because Pippo Inzaghi kept twisting it into the shape of a poodle.

And four years later madcap Germany keeper Jens Lehmann called the Teamgeist "an absolute nightmare". This might have been a reference to the name, though. A man whose feud with Oliver Kahn was the stuff of legend is unlikely to go for anything named after the German for team spirit.

According to the moaners, the World Cup ball is now so light and so volatile the next edition in 2014 is going to be called the Megan Fox.

The changes in ball characteristics have been so great, they claim, you'd think Italia '90 had been played with medicine balls. If it had, Chris Waddle's penalty might actually have found the back of the net.

Implicit in all this is an assumption that an unpredictable ball would work against England.

Wayne Rooney's precision passing, Frank Lampard's long range shots and Jamie Carragher's wild hacks upfield would be disrupted, playing into the hands of our evil adversaries.

But if England face Spain, what would you prefer - a perfectly predictable ball flight allowing Xavi, Iniesta and co to pass us to death? Or a ball with the size and shape of a toby jug, reducing the game to an unseemly scramble and giving both sides an equal chance of victory?

[Exiled_red]

There's some stuff in some of the papers today saying the ball is partly to blame for Green's mistake yesterday.

[Pablo]

There's some stuff in some of the papers today saying the ball is partly to blame for Green's mistake yesterday.

As if! It was a tame shot and never moved in the air at all

Sometimes where players leather it you see it swerving all over the place and you can sympathise with the keepers, but Robert Green's error was 100% down to him being a mong.

[Mike]

As if! It was a tame shot and never moved in the air at all

Sometimes where players leather it you see it swerving all over the place and you can sympathise with the keepers, but Robert Green's error was 100% down to him being a mong.

Aye

What a spacker.

[MrsB]

I predict it will be lighter, move more in the air; making things more difficult for goalkeepers and will be predicted to produce more goals

You forgot rounder.

[Exiled_red]

As if! It was a tame shot and never moved in the air at all

Sometimes where players leather it you see it swerving all over the place and you can sympathise with the keepers, but Robert Green's error was 100% down to him being a mong.

I just thought I'd post it in here to reopen the ball debate

[Mostar]

As if! It was a tame shot and never moved in the air at all

Sometimes where players leather it you see it swerving all over the place and you can sympathise with the keepers, but Robert Green's error was 100% down to him being a mong.

Nothing to do with ball movement. It was Green's goal and it cannot be justified in any way.

[Harv]

The ball does look **** house to try control. Its bouncing incredibly high at times and making some very good players look ****e.

Dirk Kuyt's going to been in trouble tomorrow i reckon

Interesting side note on that article that the Bundesliga players have been using it all season. Could give Ze Germans a bit of an advantage.

[CJ]

The ball does look **** house to try control. Its bouncing incredibly high at times and making some very good players look ****e.

Dirk Kuyt's going to been in trouble tomorrow i reckon

Interesting side note on that article that the Bundesliga players have been using it all season. Could give Ze Germans a bit of an advantage.

podolski didnt have any problems kicking it just now

[Helios Creed]

You forgot rounder.

I think it might be the lack of corners that makes it more difficult to grip.