Worst World Cup Ever for passing, shooting accuracy and control. Why?

Statistics are showing that this is the worst World Cup ever for pass completion, ball control and shooting accuracy. Are the players just not as good as in the past or is it the ball? In my opinion FIFA have made a massive **** up endorsing the oversized power ball that is Adidas's Jabulani. And if Germany win the World Cup Adidas will ****ing love it.

it is down to the ball mostly

IMO I think a lot of the teams have not done enough homework on the ball itself. We all know how long the Germans have been using the ball for, but to be honest I cannot believe that the other teams have not had enough time to get used to it. That said, I've nevertheless been appalled at some of the control on display by professionals who really should be doing better. Maybe they'd have been alright playing with a 1950's style leather ball that soaked up the rain!

It does appear that Adidas have gone a bit too far this time and perhaps the next World Cup ball will be received better by all parties.

Got to be the ball.

and surprise surprise the only players with previous experience of using the ball have made it to the semi finals.

I would be interested in seeing Bundesliga statistics for free-kicks scored before and after the adoption of the World Cup ball.

I think the ball definitely has something to do with it.

I thought Italia 90 was bad but this world cup has had so many overhit, wayward passes its been ridiculous

It's all balls.

Boo someone else nicks the thread I posted before we even kicked off the WC.

Total Balls Up the football has been rubbish. Football is NOT about passing the ball 3 feet in EVERY game

how long have the Germans been using this ball? Surely it is an unfair advantage if they have been using it for months

how long have the Germans been using this ball? Surely it is an unfair advantage if they have been using it for months

It was used in the Bundesleliga all last season and other countries including Algeria. As I stated elsewhere the PL have a contract with Nike so couldn't use it, the FA then LOST 25 of the balls that were delivered in February, they have no idea where they are.

Ironically in 2006 one of the biggest critics of the ball was Oliver Kahn !

Ball is a joke. Quite a few of the goals have been totally down to it - makes a lottery of the whole thing.

how long have the Germans been using this ball? Surely it is an unfair advantage if they have been using it for months

I have been saying for ages it's unfair that the people on the DFB are much more intelligent than the twats running the FA. It's been giving the Germans an unfair advantage for years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8787109.stm

It was used in the Bundesleliga all last season and other countries including Algeria. As I stated elsewhere the PL have a contract with Nike so couldn't use it, the FA then LOST 25 of the balls that were delivered in February, they have no idea where they are.

Ironically in 2006 one of the biggest critics of the ball was Oliver Kahn !

No wonder the Germans are good with it.To be fair though Bayern Munich did well in the champions league with a different ball. it is a nonsense that the balls are not all the same throughout world football.

How many of the games/grounds have been at 'altitude'?

My SA geography isn't all that good.

When we watch the wayward shooting and long passing I always give my youngest a bit of stick 'Loughborough fecked the World Cup'.

He's at L. but fortunately he had no part in the design of this shi7e ball!

it would probably be fairer to say 'Greedy FIFA stiffed the World Cup', what's wrong with a normal football FFS!!!

Question

Arjen Robben scored from a header from a cross this evening.

I can't remember that many crosses actually finding a player. Anyone have any access to any statistics.

Headed goals from crosses in this WC vs the average in the last 3 or 4, bet that figure and also the number scored from corners is way down

Question

 

Arjen Robben scored from a header from a cross this evening.

 

I can't remember that many crosses actually finding a player. Anyone have any access to any statistics.

 

Headed goals from crosses in this WC vs the average in the last 3 or 4, bet that figure and also the number scored from corners is way down

Can I have a question that involves the letter Z please

Can I have a question that involves the letter Z please

hehehehehe

We were still sh*t.

How many of the games/grounds have been at 'altitude'?

 

My SA geography isn't all that good.

Okay, here's the geography bit for you (courtesy of my wallchart!)

Heights above sea level

Jo'Burg 1753m

Rustenburg 1500m

Bloemfontain 1400m

Polokwane 1310m

Pretoria 1214m

-------------------

Nelspruit 660m

-------------------

Durban, Port Elizabeth & Cape Town 0m

So you basically have 3 groups - the high veldt up near Jo'burg, the low veldt (Nelspruit) and sea level.

Numbers of games at each level: (includes final & 3rd place match)

group knock-out total

High Veldt 29 8 37

Low Veldt 4 0 4

Sea Level 15 8 23

So the majority of the games have been at altitude. With regards to the ball - I know the Germans have been using it for some time (6 months or so) in their domestic game. Maybe that has helped them.

HTH

lol A ball is a ball.

 

A bad workmen always blames his tools etc etc

but that is where you are wrong, a rugby ball is differnet to a football for starters

had a feel of the Jabulani ball in a shop in Cape Town and it weighs absolutely nothing. Like picking up a beach ball. Would explain all the wayward freekicks ending up in row ZZ.

Still doesn't explain that even algeria could pass the thing about okay while Rooney and co couldnt put two passes together.

Okay, here's the geography bit for you (courtesy of my wallchart!)

 

Heights above sea level

Jo'Burg 1753m

Rustenburg 1500m

Bloemfontain 1400m

Polokwane 1310m

Pretoria 1214m

-------------------

Nelspruit 660m

-------------------

Durban, Port Elizabeth & Cape Town 0m

 

So you basically have 3 groups - the high veldt up near Jo'burg, the low veldt (Nelspruit) and sea level.

 

Numbers of games at each level: (includes final & 3rd place match)

group knock-out total

High Veldt 29 8 37

Low Veldt 4 0 4

Sea Level 15 8 23

 

So the majority of the games have been at altitude. With regards to the ball - I know the Germans have been using it for some time (6 months or so) in their domestic game. Maybe that has helped them.

 

HTH

Thanks for posting that up.

So if 'you' knew that well over half the games were to be played at what is quite a considerable altitude would you have specified:

a - a perfectly spherical, lightweight ball that is designed to go 'further and faster' (with the unintended but obvious consequence that every mi**** will be amplified by a factor of X) (and even though a normal ball would have gone further and faster anyway),

or

b - the 'normal' ball (ideally one that's beefed up a bit to counteract the lighter air then given some fancy trim and a posh new name)

which you would you have choosen?

Toughie....

 

Still doesn't explain that even algeria could pass the thing about okay while Rooney and co couldnt put two passes together.

thank god this dreadfull world cup is nearly over.....watching the spain game earlier and hearing the insane sound of the vuvuzela drove me mental

I reckon it's because teams have generally not passed or controlled the ball, or been accurate with their shooting as much as previous tournaments.

It has been very poor, but the best 2 teams on current form are in the final.

Current form would have been Germany - Spain.

Holland have been gash, such negative football.

Check this open letter out from Craig (Predator) Johnson to Sepp Blatter. Totally ****ing nails him for the Jabulani.

http://www.docshare.com/doc/223643/CJ-Mr-Blatter-Letter-re-Jabulani-Ball-July-20

That is exactly what I was gonna say...

Nasa have done some research on the Jabulani ball.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/soccer_ball.html

It's quite obvious. You're seeing a knuckle-ball effect," said Rabi Mehta, an aerospace engineer at NASA Ames. Mehta explained that when a relatively smooth ball with seams flies through the air without much spin, the air close to the surface is affected by the seams, producing an asymmetric flow. This asymmetry creates side forces that can suddenly push the ball in one direction and cause volatile swerves and swoops.

the worst world cup, ended by the worst world cup final...

thank god this is all over...no more insane vuvuzelas

Worst world cup final and I have a fiver at 9/1 on the Dutch to win the world cup

Maybe the ball is too accurate and the players are just used to adjusting themselves to a 'less accurate' ball.

You mean "Hit and hope" is producing less fluked goals?

That was certainly not the worst world cup final ever.

Worst ****ty background music, certainly.

Most dull and boring world cup is over. Bring on the start of the football league!!

the final is often ****.

the worst world cup, ended by the worst world cup final...

 

thank god this is all over...no more insane vuvuzelas

I think this will be remembered as one of the poorer world cups but it wasn't as bad as Italia 90.

Glad Spain won, it would have been a travesty if the Dutch had won that game, in the first half they were a disgrace

I think this will be remembered as one of the poorer world cups but it wasn't as bad as Italia 90.

 

Glad Spain won, it would have been a travesty if the Dutch had won that game, in the first half they were a disgrace

Italia 90 was far better IMO. Cameroon provided a shock right at the start and the final, while being poor, had far more entertaining violence.

Glad that's all over. What a let down. Joke ball, no atmosphere in any of the games, not many goals, some shocking refereeing errors at pivotal moments and a lot of tedious slow play. Won by a team scoring the least goals in World Cup history with a deserved reputation for diving and sooking. Bloody Vuvuzelas and empty seats and the rules exposed by Suarez's save as well. Crock of crap. Blatter is now 74 and has been in charge since 1998 - surely the old buffoon has to go now.

It wasn't great, but we expect too much of these star players at club level these days - for them to go out and perform for another 4 weeks at high altitude is sometimes a bit too much.

It's not going to really be remembered for it's football, more about how Africa came together and supported it as one. They did a fantastic job at the end of the day when a lot of people doubted their ability to host it. That's the great thing about the world cup, it's the only event in the world that unites every single country - even North Korea got in on the action!

I think the best team won it though IMO, although Germany pushed them hard - you needed to be pretty good to beat the Germans this time round.

I'm still going to miss it though, you can't beat having a football match on every day!

Bring on Brazil...

Italia 90 was far better IMO. Cameroon provided a shock right at the start and the final, while being poor, had far more entertaining violence.

vast majority of games at Italia 90 were awful, it was the first world cup when diving really came to prominence thanks to Klinsmann and co. Also there was as much if not more negative play then than there was in this World Cup. Ireland got to the quarter finals scoring just two goals in the process. True, Cameroon were a breath of fresh air but overall the football was very poor. The fact that the backpass rule got introduced soon afterwards said it all.

I think the other point is that Italia 90 was garnished with Puccini and Pavarotti, whereas this world cup was garnished with the monotonous drone of 50,000 vuvuzelas.

Italia 90 will always be an amazing memory for me; my first World Cup (or at least the first I was old enough to appreciate); Gazza; Platt v Belgium; Lineker v Cameroon and Germany; and, of course Pavarotti.

I don't think it's an exageration to say that that recording really made the World Cup. I remember it as being very atmospheric. Unlike this one. I am willing to accept the football may have been awful though.

All in all, this has been my least favourite World Cup.

Personally I think this has been a terrible World Cup, along with '90 & '04 it's the worst I can remember.

I've never really understood this obsession with '90 and Bobby Robson's team. They were poor, only managed to beat Egypt, Belgium and a very naive Cameroon.In my mind that doesn't qualify them for the hero status that seems to have been heaped on them.

I dont know if it was my age at the time but '74 & '78 seemed so much different to what we'd seen before, with long range shots and skills we didn't see every week. The lesser sides weren't so well organised so that let the better players and sides play.I was just left feeling really really disapointed with what was served up this time. I find Spain quite boring to watch, certainly not a patch on The Dutch sides of '74 &'78, who only ended up runners up.