Joe Hart hopes that whoever gets to play in goal for England has
a head for heights because he believes that coping with FIFA’s new
match ball could be a major problem.
Hart, 23, is confident he can handle the pressure if Fabio
Capello gives him the nod ahead of the more experienced David James
and Rob Green.
But handling the official Jabulani ball, named after the isiZulu
word for ‘be happy’, is another matter, particularly after altitude
training showed how it will work a few thousand feet above sea
level where England play their first game.
Barking mad: Joe Hart is enjoying the challenge
that the new World Cup ball creates
Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar has already called the ball
‘terrible’, saying it looks like it comes from a ‘grocery store’,
while Capello said: ‘It’s terrible for keepers as it’s always
moving.’
Hart’s verdict is succinct.
Training hard: Hart has impressed during drills and
was a safe pair of hands against Mexico
‘They’re doing anything but staying in my gloves,’ he said with
a smile. ‘It’s hard work with them, but good fun. It makes the game
exciting and I think that’s what they are trying to do with
it.’
And the altitude?
‘It’s been all right. Obviously it has not been as high and
intense as it will be in South Africa. We’ve had our little gas
masks on in the evening, everybody’s bought into it and respects
that it’s going to be different.
'It’s just exciting to see. I think we’re about 900 metres up
where we’re training, the air’s pretty thin and the balls fly fast.
I think there’s an awful lot of respect between the keepers.
‘Whoever Mr Capello chooses, the other two will be right behind
him, myself included. We’re a unit, we’ve got to be behind each
other.’
The Jabulani, the official football for the 2010 World Cup, was
developed by adidas in conjunction with academics at Loughborough
University.
The revolutionary design features eight moulded panels and a
‘grip and groove’ texture, which is claimed to provide ‘unmatched
flight characteristics’.
Eleven colours are used on the ball, representing a team’s 11
players as well as the 11 official languages of South Africa and
the 11 tribes that make up the Rainbow Nation.
The oldest football still in existence was made from a pig’s
bladder covered with leather.