The evil Jabulani
Well, they say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but a
host of World Cup stars are doing their best to deflate the Adidas
Jabulani official match ball…
“The ball is dreadful. It’s horrible, but it’s horrible for
everyone.” – David James (England, goalkeeper)
“The ball is a problem. You can’t anticipate which direction it
is going to go in. It is difficult for defenders to deal with and
you can’t take your eye off the ball until the very last second.” –
Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Japan, defender)
“The new ball is not decent, not just for goalkeepers but for
everyone. Its trajectory is unpredictable.” – Gigi Buffon
(Italy, goalkeeper)
“It’s very weird. 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.” – Luis
Fabiano (Brazil, forward)
“It’s like a beach ball.” – Claudio Bravo (Chile,
goalkeeper)
“It’s terrible… like a ball you’d buy in a supermarket.” –
Julio Cesar (Brazil, goalkeeper)
“Maybe they should stop trying to keep developing the ball and
just change the look of it. The ball goes all over the place.” –
Seigo Narazaki (Japan, goalkeeper)
“It’s a little sad that in a competition as big as the World Cup
to have such a poor ball. It’s not just the goalkeepers
complaining, but the outfield players as well.” – Iker
Casillas (Spain, goalkeeper)
“It’s a catastrophe. I played with many different balls, some of
which wiggled or changed directions, but this one is the worst of
them all.” – Vladimir Stojkovic (Serbia,
goalkeeper)
“It’s 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!” – Giampaolo Pazzini (Italy,
forward)
Nothing new here, and lots of goalkeepers moaning as always, but
it does seem the Jabulani has come in for more criticism than
previous World Cup ball.
