Since Adidas released the official world cup ball back in January, the world's top strikers and goalkeepers have been complaining about the aerodynamics of the ball. The most recent criticism had come from Italian striker Giampaolo Pazzini and Brazilian number 1 keeper Julio Cesar, in which the latter called the ball an "utter disgrace" and the former calling it Terrible, and comparing it to the cheap ball you can buy at the supermarket.
Now it is understandable that some players maybe concerned about the ball since may rely on the ball dynamics to either score at stop a shot. However I argue that these are in most cases million dollar players who really should not be that concerned with the design of a ball, and be more concerned on doing what's necessary to help their side win matches.
The funny thing about these complaints is that none of them are new, during the 1998 and 2002 Adidas heard complaints about the match balls in those tournaments. Keepers especially were upset about the fact that the balls we designed to curl at faster and sharper angles, therefore making it impossible for them to stop shots. Some went as far as saying the balls were designed to aid free kick specialists like David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane who were Adidas sponsored players. Of course all these claims were discredited as 1998 & 2002 had one of the lowest goal totals of any recent world cup.
Past players have had to deal with ball improvements at a world cup and it has neither affected their play, or the overall quality of the matches during the world cup. I would also question the mental strength of players who during final preparations would be more worried about a ball to which they have no control over, than getting into the best form of there lives to play in the biggest tournament of their lives.
Frankly the fact that this has become a issues just a few weeks before the world cup is straight balls!
Check out the Adidas Trailer on the ball below:
And here is some critics about the ball-God help us!
Cheers,
Mike
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