FIFA Admits Ball May Be Defective
In a game that is already getting rocked with bad refereeing and judgment calls, FIFA acknowledged recently that the official World Cup ball, the Jabulani ball designed by Adidas, may be defective, but that it will take no preventative measures until the tournament is over, presumably to flatten out the handicap as opposed to altering it half-way through.
The acknowledgment comes in the wake of several players and coaches expressing skepticism over the ball. Players have said that it is artificially light and that it is akin to a “supermarket ball.”
At a news conference, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said: “we're not deaf; FIFA is not unreceptive about what has been said about the ball. There are rules for size and weight…but the ball has to be perfect.”
Valcke said that after the tournament the commission will have meetings with teams and head coaches, as well as with manufacturer Adidas to determine whether the ball is fit or in need of revision.
It is common for players to complain about balls, but this World Cup coaches and goalkeepers have joined in, perking official ears.
Before the opening of the Cup, Brazil head coach Dunga entered into a verbal match with Valcke over the ball, challenging the FIFA executive to go out onto the pitch and attempt to control it. In a similar vein, Denmark defender Daniel Agger has said critically that the ball makes outfielders “look like drunken sailors.”
As the tournament continues and penalty shootouts become more prevalent and definitive, the ball could only be seeing its first wave of criticism.
Former German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn peppered a bit of history recently and gave an assessment, saying: "The balls have changed over the last couple of years, they have become a lot faster and in addition to that, in Johannesburg, we are playing at an altitude of 1700 metres, which makes the ball even faster. Thus the goalkeepers work even harder, but I don't think that we can take the ball or the altitude as excuses."
Another indication of the ball’s defective qualities can be seen in the fact that scoring was down by 16 goals in the first round compared to 2006. Naturally, however, it is hard to assess what effect the ball had in this, as oppose to defensive playing and a host of other factors.
Adidas, the ball’s manufacturer, has made the World Cup ball since 1970 and is contracted until 2014. They have defended the ball, saying that all qualified teams were given the ball before the tournament to test it, and that no real complaints were made at that time.
Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said recently: "There's a lot of talk about stadiums, infrastructure and TV and that's nice and all, but first we've got to worry about balls, spikes and jerseys. I don't see why we can't just go back to the old black-and-white checkered version we all played with as kids."
Goalkeepers have been expressive and have housed many of the ball’s defects. One thinks immediately of Robert Green’s legendary flub against the Americans early on in the tournament, where Dempsey was able to squeeze a slow low ball past the English keeper that ultimately led to him being judged “mentally unfit” for more play and substituted for David James.
Valcke also added that previous balls have been criticized for branding too much colour, and that largely explains the whiteness of the current model.
While ball criticism has sparked debate, the World Cup has a rich history of it, and it is therefore unlikely we will see any revision until the next Cup in 2014.
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