Scientists Prove Jabulani Is Crazy
The Jabulani ball.
Criticism of adidas’ World Cup ball, Jabulani, is justified according to scientists.
From Iker Casillas to Robinho to Fabio Capello and former Liverpool striker Craig Johnson even wrote a passionate 12-page letter to Sepp Blatter on how the Adidas ball “could ruin the game as we know it,” rocket scientists are backing the claim.
American space scientists, NASA’s aerodynamics people at the Ames Investigation Centre, managed to get some MLS players to kick a Jabulani around and test results confirm what everyone has been saying: Jabulani’s scanty 440 gram weight, coupled with the high-altitude conditions in South Africa, means when at speeds of 70 kilometres an hour or more the ball becomes susceptible to something called the ‘knuckle effect’.
That’s aerodynamic shorthand for “it swerves all around like crazy at high speeds because of the air flow on the seams and stuff,” which isn’t so bad when you get goals like this.
adidas have yet to respond to the new scientifically-based criticisms, and Sepp Blatter and Fifa are already meeting in September to discuss the horrible aftermath left in Jabulani’s zig-zagging wake.
Courtesy of kickoff.com
Memorable Matches: The Miracle of Bern
Max Morlock of West Germany scores his countries first goal of the match to get them back in the game during the FIFA World Cup Final against Hungary.
One of the most memorable games is the 1954 World Cup West Germany versus Hungary match, well if you were around at that time.
All seemed well for the Magic Magyars who had been unbeaten in 30 matches as they took a 2-0 lead after eight minutes. The Hungarians, known as the Golden Team, were the favourites, as they were unbeaten for a record of 32 consecutive matches and had demolished Germany 8-3 their first encounter.
West Germany however was back on level terms 10 minutes later and as the heavens opened, a war of attrition developed on the muddy pitch.
Adidas founder Adolph Dassler had provided the Germans with the first ever screw-in studs that gave Helmut Rahn enough grip to fire home the winner with six minutes to go, as the slipping goalkeeper Gyula Groscis struggled to get to the corner.
The tournament was won by West Germany, who upset Hungary 3-2 in the final, giving them their first title. The Wankdorf Stadion in Berne saw 60,000 people cram inside to watch the final between West Germany and Hungary.
The final of the 1954, the Miracle of Berne, has inspired books and movies.
This was the first time West Germany had won the World Cup title, let us see if they can provide another miracle in this World Cup.
Courtesy of stuff.co.nz
The German Team celebrate after they won the FIFA World Cup 1954 final.
University In Firing Line Over WC Ball
The British university behind the erratic new World Cup ball is attracting international scorn after one of the dullest and lowest scoring starts to the tournament in living memory.
When scientists from Loughborough University unveiled the Jabulani earlier this year, they boasted that its hi-tech design would ensure “exceptionally stable flight” and make the ball “more accurate than ever before”.
But after seven days of mediocre football and barely a handful of long-range goals, questions are being asked about whether Loughborough’s cutting edge methods – including a wind tunnel and a “kicking” robot – have backfired.
Fabio Capello, the England manager, increased the pressure on the university earlier this week by describing the Adidas-manufactured Jabulani as “the worst ball that I have seen in my life”.
Initial criticisms of the almost perfectly spherical ball’s unpredictable swerve came from goalkeepers who struggled to follow the flight. But now attacking players are claiming that the smooth surface makes it more difficult to curve around defensive walls and inside the posts.
Robinho, the Brazil striker, complained that “the guy who designed this ball never played football”, while Danish dead ball specialist Dan Agger joked that it made world class players look like “drunken sailors”.
Matthew Le Tissier, the former England international famed for his accurate set pieces, blamed the ball’s developers for the “tame” start to the World Cup.
He told The Daily Telegraph: “I’m surprised that they have spent so much time and money developing this ball but don’t appear to have tested it thoroughly. The changes have been too drastic.”
“There has been a reluctance to shoot from open play from any kind of distance; the players don’t seem to have the confidence to keep the ball under the bar. It’s a shame because people want to see exciting goals.”
George Cohen MBE, a member of England’s 1966 World Cup winning side, said that annual improvements to the old leather lace-up balls were beginning to damage to sport.
He said: “Designers have constantly tried to create more goals by using lighter and lighter balls. It was thought they would fly further and everyone loves to see a 30-yard screamer bend into the top corner. But things have gone too far.”
Each Jabulani is made of eight panels which have been specially moulded to create a more spherical ball. The panels are thermally bonded rather than stitched together to ensure an even smoother finish.
Although the Jabulani is no lighter than other Adidas balls designed by Loughborough – including those for the 2008 European Championship and 2006 World Cup – it has been designed to travel five per cent faster.
Dr Andy Harland from Loughborough University’s Sports Technology Institute, which spent four years researching the ball for Adidas, promised that the ball was the most stable and precise ever manufactured because of pioneering “aero grooves” built into its surface.
But that has not been borne out by the first round of group matches which saw just 25 goals. This is down from 39 in Germany 2006 and 46 in Japan and South Korea in 2002.
Of the few long distance goals in South Africa, Diego Forlan’s effort for Uruguay against the hosts took a significant deflection, while Clint Dempsey’s strike for the USA against England and Maico’s opener for Brazil against North Korea were both blamed on the Jabulani’s erratic swerve.
Dr Harland, who is currently in South Africa as a guest of Adidas, insists that strikers’ inability to keep the ball down when shooting from range is down to the thin air inside high altitude grounds. But matches at Cape Town and Durban, both of which are on the coast, have also been affected.
Professor Steve Haake of the Sports Engineering Research Group at Sheffield Hallam agreed that altitude was likely to have a greater influence that on the ball’s trajectory than any technological changes.
He said: “In thinner air the ball will slow down less and swerve less, meaning it is more likely to fly over the bar.”
But he added that tests on the Jabulani showed that it could “do some strange things” as it passes through particular speeds as it slows down, which could go some way to explaining the wild shooting.
Adidas hopes to sell more than 15 million of the Jabulani balls at up to £80 each. The name means “rejoice” in Zulu.
With thanks to the Telegraph.co.uk
Don’t Blame The Ball
Algeria’s 1-0 defeat to Slovenia on Sunday was memorable only for Robert Koren’s shot which goalkeeper Farouzi Chaouchi allowed to bounce past him.
There were many times, the first-half in particular, where players were over-hitting the simplest of passes.
Bougherra said that and the goal was due more to the atmospheric conditions – Polokwane is 4,000 feet above sea level – and the much-criticised adidas Jabulani ball than the players.
“It was the football,” said the Rangers centre-back.
“With this ball and that new pitch (the surface at the Peter Mokaba Stadium is part-grass part-artificial turf) the goalkeeper will tell you that the ball goes quickly.
“That goal was horrible for me.”
Of the mis-placed passes the 27-year-old added: “Normally when I am in Glasgow all these balls are good but here it goes quickly.
“You think the ball is just right but with the ball and the pitch it gets away.”
Manufacturers adidas have defended their World Cup ball, insisting altitude is playing a significant part in the way it moves through the air.
England goalkeeper Robert Green’s howler in allowing Clint Dempsey’s strike to squirm through his grip in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with the USA was also blamed on the ball.
However, adidas spokesman Thomas Schaikvan said the Jabulani, which has been extensively tested at Loughborough University, this year’s African Nations Cup, in several top leagues, including Germany’s Bundesliga, as well as being trialled by Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea, was not to blame.
“I wouldn’t say I am surprised by the negative reaction; it is customary when there is a new ball that players need to get used to it,” Schaikvan, head of global public relations at adidas, told Press Association Sport.
“What is strange is that people are saying the ball is lighter and that is just not true – there are stringent Fifa technical specifications and our standards are significantly tighter than that.
“We don’t concentrate on making a faster ball, we want to create a more stable ball.
“But playing at altitude is not the same as playing at sea level, that is just plain science.
“The basic science of a spherical object flying through the air is going to result in ‘fluttering’ – this is the way the ball moves through the air.
“There are players who play in leagues with other balls, who have not played in the African Nations Cup and players with other federations who have not practised with this ball and those are the players who take the most amount of time to get used to it.”
Players Complain About WC Ball
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 month-long 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. ”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.”
Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar called the ball ”terrible” and was the first to compare it to those plastic ones bought on 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. But 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.
”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 is 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”.
FIFA and Adidas did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Adidas has released some promotional materials in which some of its sponsored players praise the ball, including Kaka, Michael Ballack, Petr Cech and Frank Lampard. Ballack called the ball ”fantastic”.
Spain defender Alvaro Arbeloa, who also wears Adidas gear, had a simple answer when asked about the ball: ”It’s round, like always.”
”It happens every time, the players always complain about the ball,” said former Brazil great Tostao. ”It used to be the goalkeepers only, but now we have the others complaining too. At the greatest competition in the world you would think that the players would like the ball, but that’s not the case.”
The ball is made up of 11 colors to represent the players in a starting lineup and the 11 official languages and the 11 communities of the host country.
”That’s the ball they chose and we have to accept it,” Baptista said. ”But it’s going to be complicated.”
With thanks to Stuff.co.za
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