Globe Cup balls Just BUT England obtaining kickabout

The Germans, it would seem, have outmanoeuvred us again.

As have the Spanish, the Dutch, the French, the Swiss, the Japanese, the Portuguese and those clever chaps from Argentina .

Even the Americans appear to have displayed a bit more common sense. And why?
High and flighty: Lampard�s free-kick against the United States ended up sailing on to lane seven of the adjacent running track
Because, unlike the English, they have all been playing with this controversial new adidas ball for months.

According to the vast majority of players and coaches at this World Cup, the Jabulani is the bane of the tournament, not the vuvuzela.

�It is terrible,� declared Fabio Capello last week and he has been far from alone in complaining

Joe Cole said it has taken �some of the skill out of the game� and nobody, not even Lionel Messi, has yet succeeded in making it dip over a defensive wall

When Frank Lampard had a crack against the USA on Saturday, that particular Jabulani landed in lane seven of the running track surrounding the pitch

It�s a nightmare for goalkeepers, too. Gianluigi Buffon, Italy�s No 1 and arguably the finest keeper in the world, has had a major moan and Cole said England�s three keepers were �petrified of i

Controversial: Adidas' Jabulani footba
, As we soon discover
. On Sunday night Jamie Carragher joined England colleagues and members of the coaching staff in watching the Germans destroy Australia with the performance of the competition so fa

They immediately noted how comfortable they were with the ball and yesterday Carragher was asked whether Germany had come to South Africa with an unfair advantag

The Liverpool defender paused for a moment. �I can see the headlines,� he said with a sm

�It gives them an advantage anyway. That is obvious. We were sitting there last night and that is exactly what we were sayi

�The ball is very different. Every training session we do, we always start by passing 30 or 40 yards to each other just for that reason alo

'I am sure it has helped them (Germany). It is an advantage, of cou

WHO'S BEEN PLAYING B
L? England�s players might not have had much practice with the Jabulani but it has been used quite a lot around the world since the turn of the year. The ball has been used in home friendlies of
ll adidas-sponsored countr
s: ARGENTINA, DENMARK, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREECE, JAPAN, MEXICO, NIGERIA, PARAGUAY, SLOVAKIA, SOUTH AFRICA, S

PLUSSix German Bundesliga teams (Bayern Munich, Schalke, Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburg, Nuremburg, Wolfsburg), the South African league, USA �s MLS league, Austrian league, Swiss league, Russian league, Argentinian league, Dutch giants Ajax, Anderlecht in Belgium, the French Cup, 2009 FIFA Club World Cup (in December) featuring Barcelona and the 2010 Africa Cup of Nati
s. �I�ve watched all the games. And when you are creating a ball for the World Cup the idea is to create more goals, I think. This one does strange things to make it a more exciting tourname

'But every cross I have seen has been over-hit. It goes over the back p

�It helps if you are training with it but it is a little bit inconsistent. Sometimes you don�t really know what it is going to do when you are knocking balls to each oth

Sometimes it goes straight on, other times it just deviates at the last minute. But that is the same for every team, probably except Germa

�I haven�t seen anyone get a free kick over the wall yet. It just seems to sail straight over the bar. Looking at the start, maybe it is not doing what people expect

'People thought there would be more goals but, apart from Germany, I don�t think there have been too many goals in the tourname

�They played so well. Very impressive. I am not looking for an excuse. I also don�t want to hype them up too much because of how well they play

'Maybe it is something to cling to, that they played that well because they�ve been playing with the ba

'But I have had two or three texts about it.� Think it�s a load of balls? Well, Mexican goalkeeping coach Alberto Aguilar has been using NFL-type footballs in training the better to prepare his men for unpredictable bou

.

Outspoken: Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has criticised the
all And when it was announced that the Barclays Premier League would be using a red Nike ball on one weekend in March to raise awareness for Bono�s Red charity, Arsene Wenger asked to have the ball delivered to the training ground three months in adva

Even though it was the same as the standard Premier League ball in all but colour, Wenger made the point that the colour change affected the sight lines and systematically used it in train

Arsenal had to play at Hull that weekend, and they won

.

As FIFA insisted yesterday, the Jabulani was made available to the national federations of all 32 competing countries in Janu

But not until England�s players joined up and travelled to Austria for their pre-tournament training camp were they introduced to the Jabul

And even then they were not allowed to use it in the warm-up against Mexico at Wembley because of the contractual obligation the FA has to Um

In fairness to the FA, the deal with Nike-owned Umbro is worth around �100million to the organisation and if Umbro want England to use their products then they have to play
ll. Getting the ball rolling: Germany's stroll against Australia was helped helped by their experience of playing with the ne
ball It was why Capello did not even train with the Jabulani when he had the opportunity in M

.

With only two days to prepare for the friendly with Egypt, Capello opted instead to stick with the official match

.

BALLPOINTThe Jabulani appears to have limited the number of goals scored at the Worl

p:

31 goals were scored after 11 games i
2002 27 were scored by the same stage i
2006 18 have been scored in South Africa51 per cent of players at this World Cup have had regular access to the Jabulani ball but not one of them is in England's 23-man squad - 377 out of 736 players used the ball pre-tour

nt

Not that England�s manager seemed overly concerned. The Premier League have a similar such obligation, having just completed their 10th season with Nike as a ball sp
sor. Each contract lasts three years and it is worth more than �10million over that period to use a Nike ball. Given the nature of international brand wars, Nike would never allow the Premier League to use an adidas ball for half the s

n.

But then nor would the Premier League wish to. It could damage the integrity of the competition and have the managers up in

s.

It is, after all, a whole new ball game. In Germany, however, no such ball deal was in existence in the Bunde

a.

They have just signed a contract with adidas that kicks in from the start of next season but up until now each club has been free to choose. Being an adidas sponsored club, Bayern Munich have been using the ball since Fe
uary. And don�t the Aussies kn

t.

Spain have played all their friendlies this year with the ball, as have Argentina and Japan. It was also used in the Africa Cup of Na

s.

On a domestic front, the Jabulani has made an appearance in Portugal�s league, Argentina�s league, America�s MLS, the Dutch league, the French Cup and the Swiss l

e.

In previous tournaments, the ball has not been quite so problematic. But if English football wants to avoid being at such a disadvantage in the future, the only answer is to sign the next deals with a

s.

The German brand has an unbreakable association with FIFA, so it really is a case of �if you can�t beat �em join �em� - even if the money on the table is less than Nike�s

er.

Well, we do want to win a World Cup, d
�t we?
re... We will play on Green howler, warns Algeria star Yazid M

uri

Algeria ace Bougherra insists: We've got nothing to lose against

land

Emile Heskey blames the Jabulani ball for horror miss aga

USA

MARTIN SAMUEL: Cold logic dictates that Capello must stick wi

reen

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