Pardon Goalden’s Interruption: World Cup soccer balls
In another addition of Pardon Goalden’s Interruption, Phil & Ivan discuss their feelings about the World Cup soccer ball and the constant whining and complaining that surfaces from players right before tournament kick-off.
What’s on your mind boys?
Ivan:
Any sports broadcasting station you turn to or any sports website you read seems to be filled with this talk around the Adidas soccer ball for World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Goalie’s, and some players, are at it again complaining about the ball. What are the complaints about anyways? The complaints are mainly from the goalies who are suggesting the ball moves around in the air and becomes very difficult to deal with. When shot, the ball swerves and curls more than it usually does. The ball has been in use in many realms of the professional world recently and used in quite a few competitions up to this point and little to nothing has been said. Suddenly, on the biggest stage, players are coming out with their complaints. Funny how none of the players sponsored by Adidas have nothing to say….
Personally, I see this as a waste of everyone’s time. The players need to shut their mouths and realize they are taking away from what is a historic event with their whining. Instead of promoting one of the biggest and most popular events known to man on this planet, they are complaining about a ball.
Either way, the players need to realize that this is an opportunity to talk about the beauty of soccer, up-and-coming players, their teams, their countries, things about their teams we don’t know about…anything, just stop complaining about a ball.
Phil:
I’d have to agree. This is typical pre-world cup nonsense. On the eve of the tournament players come out and complain about the ball. Although when you step back and look at the situation though it’s only a few players. Yet, if they score a fantastic goal in the tournament they’ll want to keep the ball for their memoirs. If the ball really were that terrible then fine something needs to be done about it. But remember, Adidas is in the business of making money and producing a good product for their customers. They have every intention of producing a quality ball that will be used long after the tournament is over – I am sure this will be the case.
The same thing happened in ’94 and ’02 right before the tournament began when players complained about the ball but in the end it worked out well. When the world cup starts and amazing goals are scored and great saves are made all this talk about the ball will quickly come to an end. There are too many other great things about the world cup that will take center stage come kick off on June 11th.
Ivan:
I see this as a manipulative technique goalie’s use to have something to fall back on and blame in case something goes wrong. When there are great goals scored – or even crappy goals scored for that matter – goalie’s will be able to point the finger at the ball and say the ball is to blame. Immature if you ask me.
These goalie’s are talking like they are the only ones who have to deal with this ball and for some reason only they are disadvantaged. Both goalies, both players and both teams have to deal with the same ball – there is no disadvantage here. This is similar to when teams play on bad fields or in difficult weather conditions and one team blames the field/weather. Reality check: both teams played under the same circumstances.
Professional soccer players, in the past 5-6 years or so, have begun to get on my nerves. No matter what there is always something to complain about. If it’s not a soccer ball it’s their cleats; if it’s not their cleats it’s the uniform; if it’s not their uniform it’s the field. Give me a break. We have moved into a generation of athletes who are over-paid and over-celebrated. Because everything comes so easily to them, they don’t have to work very hard. As a result, they rarely point the finger at themselves when something goes wrong, but are very quick to blame everything else. As a great professor once told me, maturity is the ability to take responsibility for your actions and your circumstances no matter what. So when I say these players are acting immature, I’m not too far off.
Phil:
If fans carried signs saying “can’t save that shot? blame the ball” or something to that affect making fun of the goalies who have complained about the ball then perhaps it would deter them in the future from making these complaints. Players will notice public reaction and mocking from the public. If enough of this is done then players might change their behavior.
In the end it’s the world cup…the conditions don’t get any better than this. Some players expectations are just too high. This is the best of the best. The best stadiums, pitches, teams, officials and everything else surrounding the tournament. If I were fortunate enough to play in the world cup, the ball would be the last thing on my mind. I’d be thinking about everything possible to help my team win. Not which way the ball spins in the air.
Ivan:
The ball is created to be better, not worse. The intentions of Adidas are to have a ball that matches the quality of the players on the field. Adidas has created one of the most accurate balls ever. By saying accurate, Adidas is saying that the ball will go exactly where you want it to go. So, if you hit it perfectly, it will go where you intended. If you don’t hit it perfectly, it will not go where you wanted. Simple as that: however the ball is hit is where it will go, period.
How is this better? This is better because the quality of a shot, pass or cross will depend entirely on the player and not on the ball. Much like a bullet being fired from a gun, the ball will go where it is told to go. Too bad soccer balls can’t talk, maybe it’s the balls that should be blaming the players, and not the players the balls. I’d like for teams to play with a ball from 20 years ago and see what their reaction is then. Maybe then a little appreciation would arise…
Either way, I agree, let the games begin. After the first whistle, these talks about the ball that seem to come up every World Cup will be a distant memory while the fans, teams, players and coaches will be remembered and cherished.
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