Several players are going all out against the new World Cup ball, with more than one comparing it to those bought at a supermarket, and this time it’s not only goalkeepers who are complaining.
Strikers, defenders and midfielders are also lashing out at the Adidas ball just a few days before the monthlong tournament is to begin in South Africa.
The ball is called Jabulani, which means “to celebrate” in isiZulu, but not many are celebrating it so far. It’s hard to find a player who is happy with it, and those who don’t like it are not saving adjectives to describe their feelings.
“It’s very weird,” Brazil striker Luis Fabiano said on Sunday. “All of a sudden it changes trajectory on you. It’s like it doesn’t want to be kicked. It’s incredible, it’s like someone is guiding it.”
“You are going to kick it and it moves out of the way. I think it’s supernatural, it’s very bad. I hope to adapt to it as soon as possible, but it’s going to be hard,” Fabiano said.
Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar on Saturday called the ball “terrible” and was the first to compare it to plastic balls bought in a supermarket. Italy striker Giampaolo Pazzini said the same thing, calling it a “disaster.”
“It moves so much and makes it difficult to control. You jump up to head a cross and suddenly the ball will move and you miss it,” Pazzini said. “It is especially bad for the goalkeepers if it means they concede a goal because they can’t judge the trajectory.”
Adidas traditionally launches new balls for each World Cup and they usually cause controversy because of the changes prompted by the new technology being introduced. Most of the time the ball becomes speedier and goalkeepers are the ones most affected by it.
However, this time the livelier ball is causing problems to field players too.
“There is no way to hide it,” Brazil midfielder Julio Baptista said. “It’s bad for the goalkeepers and it’s bad for us. It’s really bad. The players try to cross it and it goes to the opposite direction they intended it to go.”
Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas also expressed his anger at the design of the ball after the European champion’s 3-2 friendly win over Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
“It’s sad that that such an important competition like the World Cup has such an important element like this ball of appalling condition,” he said.
Adidas said the technology on the Jabulani is “radically new,” and when it launched the ball in December it said that it would sail true because small dots on the surface would help improve reliability in the air.
It said the ball would have “an exceptionally stable flight and perfect grip under all conditions.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but