beacuse they get it endorsed throughout the tournament and then get to charge £80 for each one they sell. though that will probably be even less than usual this time round.

^^^^

What he said!

I don't know why they moan as it's the same for everyone

I don't know why they moan as it's the same for everyone

No it isn't. The Germans have been using it in their league games for the last season. Due to Adidas sponsorship (its Nike for ours).

Who are the only side who have looked half decent with it? Coincidence?

I can see why sportswear companies like Adidas or Nike make such a fuss about launching a new ball at a World Cup - I remember what an object of desire a "Tango" was during and after the '78 World Cup.

However, I don't know why the football authorities consent to spring a radically new ball on the teams at a tournament like this then wonder why the games have been crap.

If you're a football player and you've spent months finessing and caressing a ball that weighs X from free kicks, corner kicks and dribbles, your muscle memory presumably will be geared towards that. You're not going to learn how to do it to a ball that weighs Y in a day or two's training. Especially since many of the venues are at altitude, where the thinner air introduces a further element of unpredictability to the ball's behaviour.

Seems the need for Adidas to make money has taken precedence over everyone else's desire to see a decent tournament.

Hasn't the ball been available to all teams for months though?

it's a ball, that is round, like all other balls. If grown men (who get paid megabucks) can't use it they shouldn't be professional footballers..

it's a ball, that is round, like all other balls

from this quote obviously you have never tested foorballs to a fifa sphericity standard. 😉

as a man who has believe me, you'd be surprised by how unround some balls are.

No it isn't. The Germans have been using it in their league games for the last season. Due to Adidas sponsorship (its Nike for ours).

Who are the only side who have looked half decent with it? Coincidence?

Hasn't the ball been available to all teams for months though?

[i]No it isn't. The Germans have been using it in their league games for the last season. Due to Adidas sponsorship (its Nike for ours).[/i]

Still the same ball though for all. Unless when a German player touches it changes, hold on it's those damn Decepticons.

To be fair I think its only the goalkeepers who are whining. And their managers on their behalf.

At first they said you couldn't bend it. Erm... did you see the first Brazil goal?

A ball 'not bending':

binners - Member

I don't know why they moan as it's the same for everyone

No it isn't. The Germans have been using it in their league games for the last season. Due to Adidas sponsorship (its Nike for ours).

Who are the only side who have looked half decent with it? Coincidence?

[i]To be fair I think its only the goalkeepers who are whining.[/i]

Here's what a ball designed by a goalie would look like.

[img] [/img]

I was about to say 'yeah, but how many Germans actually play in the Bundesliga?'

Well, it appears to be all of them!

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/teams/team=43948/squadlist.html

ourkidsam - Member
I was about to say 'yeah, but how many Germans actually play in the Bundesliga?'

Well, it appears to be all of them!

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/teams/team=43948/squadlist.html
br />

It's a conspiracy between FIFA, Adidas and the Bundesliga to give them an unfair advantage!

The Germans have been using it in their league games for the last season

Do many of the German nationals actually play in the German league?

got bored writing, but theres more to ball design than you'd imagine.

The consipracy widens - Ballack would have been the only addidas sponsored player playing outside Germany - badly tackled and forced out of team by the brother of Jerome Boateng (Kevin-Prince Boateng -Ghana) who happens to have replaced him and has experience of using the Jubulani.

🙂

[i]it's a ball, that is round, like all other balls[/i]

Ah you see that's where you're wrong. It's the roundest ball yet and it's the sole reason england are shite.

ahhh it's the ball - there was me thinking that England was just shite and that most of the country was getting carried away supporting a team with little chance of winning

Do many of the German nationals actually play in the German league?

All of them 😉

Bloody Germans, cheating again.

we CANNOT use it in league matches, we get less chance to practice with it

We? Do you mean the English soccer team, or us?

Not much point your lot practicising with it, eh.

Loving reading this, another example of how when England dont perform its never there fault and its all a bit plot against them.

simply cant accept that the team is rubbish

(i'm not saying i could do any better because i'm rubbish too but against the rest of the worlds pro's they are mince!)

Conspiracy? Hmm, you could say that it was the FA being shortsighted and not checking which company would be providing the ball for 2010 adn then making sure they tied themselves in with them in order to ensure the players in the EPL had plenty of experience kicking the ball etc.

But then to say all that would be to suspect that the FA are a bunch of useless stuffed suits who don't have a ****ing clue what they're doing beyond lining their own pockets. And that can't be right.

Only one [url=

conspiracy[/url].

>i'm not saying i could do any better because i'm rubbish too but against the rest of the worlds pro's they are mince!

To be fair, "mince" is harsh after all they qualified for the tournament in the first place. Unlike Scotland who are perhaps more deserving of the "mince" tag.

To be fair to the england team, almost every team has slated the ball, I think that only france and germany haven't (wonder who their kit sponsor is?)
Adidas are saying it's altitude that is causing the balls unpredictable movement.
The complaint is that the ball moves so much in the air that when humped up to Heskey or long to gerrard the ball moves at the last minute and makes it difficult to control. Fair play to Rob Green as he refused to blame the ball for [b]his[/b] mistake.

[i]Unlike Scotland who are perhaps more deserving of the "mince" tag[/i]

I fail to see what relevance england being shite has to Scotland not qualifying. You're like a stuck record.

allthepies...the difference is we know we are rubbish and we have a bit of fun with it and dont take it too seriously

Every world cup it seems like England think they have the god given right to win and how dare anyone get in there way (or at least that is the impression you get from the media)

[i]The complaint is that the ball moves so much in the air that when humped up to Heskey or long to gerrard the ball moves at the last minute and makes it difficult to control[/i]

Ah right, does this only happen when england players try to pass the ball?

Fair play to Rob Green as he refused to blame the ball for his mistake.

Ah right, does this only happen when england players try to pass the ball?

It's not just Capello having a whinge, as one or two above have already pointed out.

Lets be honest.We haven't got a cat in hells chance of winning it. I mean... how desperate does it have to get before Emile Heskey is your preferred choice up front? He couldn't hit a barn door with a shovel

You can't beat a good conspiracy theory though. Its all the Germans fault 😀

The complaint is that the ball moves so much in the air that when humped up to Heskey or long to gerrard the ball moves at the last minute and makes it difficult to control

Yeah but the skilful teams who don't need to lump it up the field aren't having as many problems with their sneaky passing game.

[i]We haven't got a cat in hells chance of winning it[/i]

You're right there, [b]we're[/b] not even in it.

England are alright at footy why everyone keeps thinking we are really naff I do not understand. We've drawn one game, the "best team in the world" have lost one game don't make them rubbish, of cause we are going to be frustrated if we don't do well in the world cup as would brazil, argentina germany, holland, spain, italy any football mad country.

I really wish people would stop saying the ball is light. It's not. A FIFA approved size 5 football is 420-445 grams. The same in any FIFA sanctioned league.

On the other hand the air density at say, 5000 feet (Rustenburg), is 17% less than at sea level. I'm no genius but I guess that means 17% less drag on the ball when it's in the air. I think that has more to do with it.

As for it moving about, I can't recall any weird ball movement in the games I've watched so far (which is most of them).

Edit: Also, the Germans played in Durban which is at sea level.

Yep, it's only the England team moaning about the ball, isn't it??

http://www.kickoff.com/news/15932/enyeama-jabulani-will-disgrace-keepers.php

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article483192.ece/Jabulani-worst-ball-of-them-all--Serbian-goalie

http://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/TournamentNews/Eriksson-calls-for-ball-review-20100616

oh, erm......wait a minute..........

[quote> http://www.kickoff.com/news/15932/enyeama-jabulani-will-disgrace-keepers.php

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article483192.ece/Jabulani-worst-ball-of-them-all--Serbian-goalie

http://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/TournamentNews/Eriksson-calls-for-ball-review-20100616

oh, erm......wait a minute..........

But have any decent teams complained about it as much?

there was me thinking that England was just shite and that most of the country was getting carried away supporting a team with little chance of winning

Missing the point there somewhat.. I mean totally.

Yeah but the skilful teams who don't need to lump it up the field aren't having as many problems with their sneaky passing game.

Like Spain you mean, or Brazil?

Have you people not noticed how many good teams have failed to score many goals? They have been in many cases cutting defences apart and having loads of shots and even more crosses, and nothing is finding its target. Points the finger at the ball imo.

For an article on the effect of altitude on ball flight see
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627635.800-feeling-the-pressure-the-world-cups-altitude-factor.html

http://engineeringsport.co.uk/2009/11/01/the-world-cup-draw-fifa%E2%80%99s-balls-up-in-the-air/

and if you have silverlight, see a 3D demo at [url= http://www.shotsim.co.uk ]shotsim.co.uk[/url]

shameless promotion over.

Si C

>I can't recall any weird ball movement in the games I've watched so far

You must have missed the Brazil game then.

allthepies - exactly what I sad. Heres the ball 'not bending' again:

Like Spain you mean, or Brazil?

Spain's problem was finishing, Brazil played against a microcosm of a dictatorship. I've just watched Argentina consistently control and pass to the feet over a range of distances the so-called problem ball. We don't value skill as much as we value 'effort, passion, strength, speed," and every other physical attribute that we fetishize at the expense of technique and tactical acumen.

It's a fair point heathenWoods but I think that needs to be added rather than taken away from the other attributes as if you look at the champs league it has been dominated by English teams for the past few seasons. The so called top 4 nearly always reaching the later stages. I would hate to play like the italians so so dull.

I love the football threads on here.

England are 5th favorites to win (out of 32 finalists let alone how many countries tried) so that in my opinion gives us the right to think we can have a chance of winning.

The ball is shite. i agree with molgrips statement.

"the ball is a ball its round" comment well by your definintion a bike is a bike. As bikes have wheels, (sometimes) gears, seats etc.

That's fair enough but it's always the overseas players that we look to for the winning ball etc.

You must have missed the Brazil game then.

Maicon deliberately bent the ball with the outside of his foot. He's known for it and had apparently scored a few like that in training. Nothing weird about the movement of the ball.

England are 5th favorites to win (out of 32 finalists let alone how many countries tried) so that in my opinion gives us the right to think we can have a chance of winning.

I think betting is skewed as the majority of the nation will have a tenner on England to win as the heart rules. We probably have the worst team we've had since 86, but we've had the best qualifying campaign for some time, we will always struggle against the weaker teams are we are not particularly good at breaking down a stubborn 11 man defence. when the oppo are coming forward and trying to score we have the players to exploit the space. That's why we demolished croatia home and away.

england are playing at sea level the next 2 games so if adidas are correct there will be no excuses.

Nothing weird about the movement of the ball.

So it's you, who's likely never seen one of these balls, vs a load of pro footballers who are trying to play with it day in day out.

Hmm.. who to listen to... toughie that one...

So it's you, who's likely never seen one of these balls, vs a load of pro footballers who are trying to play with it day in day out.

Hmm.. who to listen to... toughie that one...

There's no need to be like that.

I'm just going by the following.

1. The ball is no lighter than any previous modern football.
2. As far as I can see the ball doesn't move strangely.
3. I'm ignoring what goalkeepers say because they ALWAYS complain about the ball. A trawl back through the BBC archives shows this.
4. The Jabulani was used in the last African Nations Cup, plus professional leagues for the last 6 months (Germany, United States, South Africa, and Argentina) with no major complaints.

All of a sudden now it's being described as 'a disaster' and 'the worst ever'. Just doesn't add up to me. As you point out, it's pro footballers making these comments, so why do they think it's lighter? Given that most of the complaints are about the ball's behaviour in the air I think the altitude has a lot to do with it. I think when it comes to long balls, crosses, and shots etc. the ball is just moving that bit faster which makes it difficult for players to judge the flight, leading to mistakes.

Anyway these are merely my thoughts. Don't lose any sleep over them. 😉

Another goal keeping error from Nigeria just now. There has been quite a few. More than I can remember from any other tournament.