Is the new ball hurting the quality of the WC?

Memnoch

This might sound a little bit silly, but I've watched almost every game and there has hardly been a screaming shot on target from outside the box. Most free kicks and attempts have gone flying over the bar. And I reckon that might be part of the reason the games are so low scoring.

The only goal scored from outside the box so far was the spill by Greene, I think.

Own goal by FIFA with the ball?

Hopefully this will improve as the good players get used to the way the ball reacts to their shots.

Apologies to the mods if this doesn't warrant a thread on its own.

dreamers75

Good defending is hurting the amount of goals scored feck all to do with the ball.

My name is URL

If anything it means the players have to work harder on the ball, I reckon that by the end of the tournament, if you look at the stats; short passes will have increased a fair bit on whatever the average is. Even for shots on goal, it just means more precision is needed. And that's if the ball is playing a part in it, which I'm not sure it is

stovelid

I think some leagues used the new ball for the second half of last season, including the Germans..

I read today that England couldn't because of sponsorship deals with other companies.

Dont be at yourself

People complained about the tricolore too.

MR NINE

I think the ball is having an effect on the quality of football being played. There's been an absurd amount of wild airborne shots and misplaced long range passes, even fairly straightforward ones, that just stray out of play.

Memnoch

MR NINE wrote: »

I think the ball is having an effect on the quality of football being played. There's been an absurd amount of wild airborne shots and misplaced long range passes, even fairly straightforward ones, that just stray out of play.

yeah, more than the shots, it seems to be harder to make accurate long passes into players runs behind the defence etc.

That being said the NK goal tonight was of a great long ball.

Gillington

I'd love to play a game with it to make my own mind up,I think it is having a bad effect,no-one running at pace with it,shots/freekicks aren't as good as we should expect from the World Cup.

Of Course altitude,vuvuzela's etc can have an impact on gameplay but I reckon most of its the ball

The_Kew_Tour

No

Mars Bar

It's really noticeable for long balls into the corner or balls over the top are going out over the end line more often.


I'd love to try it in training with the girls though, I reckon the weight would suit us better and we'd see longer passes and better headers as we wouldn't have as much power as the men have.

Ferris_Bueller

I think it's strange that it's having such changes on the football on display. Fair enough, I don't know exactly how different the ball is to what they usually play with, but it's not as if it's a different shape. Surely it shouldn't make that big of a difference?! These are all professional footballers getting paid a lot of money, surely they shouldn't let a different ball effect them so badly?!

dfx-

No...it's not so altered that players can't get a corner over the first man or pass 10 yards on the ground.

Mars Bar

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

I think it's strange that it's having such changes on the football on display. Fair enough, I don't know exactly how different the ball is to what they usually play with, but it's not as if it's a different shape. Surely it shouldn't make that big of a difference?! These are all professional footballers getting paid a lot of money, surely they shouldn't let a different ball effect them so badly?!

I think it would. When you become so accustomed to one weight on the football, you know when to judge how quickly it's traveling and how much power you should put behind it. You also have the altitude which I think changes the speed the ball travels.

I'd be surprised, after the teams having playing a game with it, not to see an improvement in Round 2. Then you'd have to wonder if the footballers are worth their money...

My name is URL

According to the specs of the ball, it's considered 'heavy' as far as FIFA standards go - http://www.jabulaniball.com/

Mars Bar

My name is URL wrote: »

According to the specs of the ball, it's considered 'heavy' as far as FIFA standards go - http://www.jabulaniball.com/

Seriously?

It acts like it is light. It reminds me of the football I got at an FAI camp in 2002. It's was hard but light. It floated over the shed and I never saw it again.

missingtime

mars bar wrote: »

It acts like it is light. It reminds me of the football I got at an FAI camp in 2002. It's was hard but light. It floated over the shed and I never saw it again.

I feel your pain man. Nothing like getting a new football and blazing it to the next door neighbour garden - who then wouldn't give it back. The Bitch.

Anyway...I think that a lot of teams are adopting a Mourinho tactics which, with good team can work well, but with bad teams can be awful.

First round though so its early days.

stovelid

dfx- wrote: »

No...it's not so altered that players can't get a corner over the first man or pass 10 yards on the ground.

The ball is too light [x]

Them horns yokes are too loud [x]

The dog ate my homework [x]

You were afraid of Uruguay [✓]

It's Rafas fault

Ian_K

The only thing hurting the quality of the WC is the bloody useless teams that are playing in it! The qualification system is a heap of shíte tbh

Bodhisopha

No, it's a combination of altitude and poor play.

Two long range screamers hit the woodwork over the last two days. Had they gone in i suspect this thread wouldn't exist.

karma_

Is it just me or is this WC getting a bit boring? There haven't been many goals and few decent games.

It reminds me of Italia 90 which was lets face it a crap WC, and few of us would remember it if Ireland hadn't been there.

FearDark

Played with one of the new balls the other night, that thing flies!! No reason why there should'nt be screamers going in. But yeah, I agree, so far the W.C. has been extremely dissappointing.

monkey9

I'd say it's a combination of a light ball and the altitude!!

It's bloody annoying though. It's got to the stage where i'd be surprised if a cross doesn't go out for a throw or a goal kick!!

McGrath5

I think it's a combination of good defending, nerve's affecting player's with there opening game's and the altitude.
It's lazy to put it down to the match ball and the vuvuzela's.

dreamers75

Perfect Choice wrote: »

I think it's a combination of good defending, nerve's affecting player's with there opening game's and the altitude.
It's lazy to put it down to the match ball and the vuvuzela's.

Completley agree.

A lot of teams are negative as we are irish we forget the golden rule DO NOT ****ING LOSE YOUR 1ST MATCH!!!

Everyone going with that angle and if we were in it we would adopt the same atitude. **** enterntaining the masses theres 5 million people watching us at home DO NOT LOSE!!!

odd tho its the same in every WC but lets blame the ball, which is also blamed in every WC since 94.

Boskowski

Didn't seem to affect us, but then we are Germany!!!

NTMK

MR NINE wrote: »

I think the ball is having an effect on the quality of football being played. There's been an absurd amount of wild airborne shots and misplaced long range passes, even fairly straightforward ones, that just stray out of play.

Thats mainly down to altitude. I've been playin around with the proper match ball and its a bit on the light side but definitely not a supermarket ball as the pros have called it.

It does moves a fair amount in the air which means its a bitch to catch but not the worst 06WC ball was 10 times worse

I think the scoring issue is down to the altitude and the fact the players aren't used to it. they are tiring out quicker and resorting to hoofing lazy balls up field

There are always complaints about the ball. its just and excuse for poor keepers and teams that play the long pass

If they spent more getting used to it and less time whining about it they might be able to hit long passes. messi had no problem controlling his shots against nigeria

Overheal

Have you seen the Factory Video for these balls???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B88iSdBNoik

You'd swear they were assembling Iron Man

pickarooney

It's got **** all to do with the altitude. There have been as many balls ballooned into the stands in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth as there have been in Jo'burg. The ball is also not especially light.

A lot of teams are negative as we are irish we forget the golden rule DO NOT ****ING LOSE YOUR 1ST MATCH!!!

I seem to remember a team losing their first match against us and reaching the final. Golden rule my hole.

rossie1977

every wc without fail the ball and its lightness will be brought up as the reason why players are crap, even back in 1990 the ball was blamed

its not the ball its the quality of players on show after a long hard season

Seaneh

pickarooney wrote: »

The ball is also not especially light.
.

I've played over 3 hours of football with the match ball and it fecking is light.

Normally I'd be accurate up to about 40/50 yards with my left foot and I'd be able to knock a long hopefull ball about 60/70 yards into space if I really, really smacked it. Whit this ball I can almost kick it from from one box to the other before it bounces and then it does bounce it skids off the grass and goes in odd directions instead on slowing down and bouncing pretty high. also, I get a lot more loft, the ball just goes higher for some reason.

99% of the time when I shoot from 30 yards out I'll keep it on target at least, power might be a bit weak but it will make the keeper save it. I hit this from 25/30 yards and it's anybodies guess as to where it goes and it moves like it was hit by Juninho in his prime.

What me and my mates have noticed is this.

People who smack the ball with the outside 3 toes (like Ronaldo, Juninho, Pirlo, Roberto Carlos etc) have a much better chance of keeping it on target than people who try wrap their foot around it and bring it up and back down over the wall (most free kick takers, Beckham being the prime example).
Now this is weird because generally the opposite it true.


Also, the ball feels exceptionally light, even if it's not (which surprises me if it's true, felt a lot lighter than the Nike premiership match ball we had with us aswell) it feels very light and behaves like a light ball.

pickarooney

Seaneh wrote: »

I've played over 3 hours of football with the match ball and it fecking is light.


Also, the ball feels exceptionally light, even if it's not (which surprises me if it's true, felt a lot lighter than the Nike premiership match ball we had with us aswell) it feels very light and behaves like a light ball.

Make up your mind. It's 5 grammes under teh maximum allowed weight for a FIFA ball.

And you can hit the target 99% of the time from 30 yards with a defence between you and the goal? Give it a rest, man.

cruizer22b

I think the ball is having a bad effect on the games and standard. Ive watched nearly all the games and the amount of passes and shots that are going way off target has to be because of the ball. At first I thought it may just be some of the poor teams but even the likes of Holland and others are having a nightmare with over hiting passes or passes just going into the stand. See how Spain do today with it. If Xavi and Co are doing the same the ball will ruin the WC.

Dont be at yourself

Spain seem to be pinging it about with perfect accuracy. As were Germany. Both matches played at sea level.

Frisbee

Seaneh wrote: »

99% of the time when I shoot from 30 yards out I'll keep it on target at least, power might be a bit weak but it will make the keeper save it.

Mate, not even the best players in the world would have an on target percentage like that.

Seaneh

pickarooney wrote: »

Make up your mind. It's 5 grammes under teh maximum allowed weight for a FIFA ball.

And you can hit the target 99% of the time from 30 yards with a defence between you and the goal? Give it a rest, man.

I ment from dead balls.

And this is a kick around with a few friends, not in a match.

And make my mind up about what? I said the ball behaves like a very light ball, I said it's highly surprising it wasn't very light (according to you it's pretty heavy by fifa standards)! It felt a lot lighter than the other ball we had too.

SantryRed

Those horns are fcuking up the matches. There's no spells when pressure is being cranked up because the atmosphere is constantly the same. Guarantee you games would be better without those horns.

ErinGoBrath

Vuvuzela generated crosswinds are clearly affecting the flight of the ball...

Ban em' all

Ferris_Bueller

SantryRed wrote: »

Those horns are fcuking up the matches. There's no spells when pressure is being cranked up because the atmosphere is constantly the same. Guarantee you games would be better without those horns.

That's actually a very very good point.

parker kent

rossie1977 wrote: »

every wc without fail the ball and its lightness will be brought up as the reason why players are crap, even back in 1990 the ball was blamed

its not the ball its the quality of players on show after a long hard season

+1

I would also note what I call "Wembley-itis" happening in this tournament. The new Wembley has had very few good games and the pitch plays a role in that. It leads to slower, deliberate build ups. The pitches seem to be made from similar materials to the new Wembley and they are being dug up quite easily. Have a look at the amount of grass being chucked up into the air with perfectly normal tackles, shots etc.

Then throw in altitude for some games, effects of a new ball and a long season. Plus just as importantly, many teams are being ultra-defensive with two banks of four just sitting in for the game.

Then from a viewers point of view, the vuvezelas mean there is no traditional big game atmosphere. The relentless, monotonous drone is awful. Typically when a team is cranking up the pressure like Spain were around the time Navas and Torres came on, the noise of the crowd would build. Just like Santry Red says above.

Hopefully as the tournament progresses a few more entertaining games happen.

The Cannibal

I think the ball favours crap teams. Long shots are hard to get on target and balls behind the defence skip away as soon as they bounce, so it is that much easier for bad teams just to set out their stall to defend. The only way you'll beat them is by getting the ball down and taking them on.

pwd

already a thread on this

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055938632