Post by Scott on Jun 7, 2006 15:39:32 GMT
From The Guardian:
According to the official blurb about the new World Cup ball, there are "fine gold accents along rounded propellers and a revolutionary new panel shape to create a more homogeneous system." Paul Robinson, the archetypal straight-talking Yorkshireman, cuts to the chase. "It's like playing with a water-polo ball. The best description for it is goalkeeper-unfriendly. Very unfriendly."
Officially, Robinson was not supposed to get his hands on the new Adidas Teamgeist ball until England's first training session in Buhlertal yesterday. Instead, the England goalkeeper, mindful of David Seaman's complaints before the last tournament, had the foresight to pre-order six, at a price of £420, so he could get some advance practice. He is well placed, therefore, to comment about the damage Ronaldinho, David Beckham and the World Cup's other dead-ball specialists could inflict on unsuspecting goalkeepers over the next four weeks or so.
"The players these days are top quality. They can do anything with the ball and this one moves all over the place. It's a difficult ball for goalkeepers, full stop. There's no stitching whatsoever. It's two sections glued together and it's a lot lighter than the Premiership ball. Every ball is going to move unless you go back to the old-fashioned bricks that we used to play with on frosty school mornings, but this one moves everywhere.
"There's a plastic coating around it and when it's wet it's even worse. We just have to live with it, but it's not at all goalkeeper-friendly."
Jens Lehmann, the Germany No1, has voiced similar reservations despite Adidas's close links to the host team, but Robinson's meticulous planning has given him an advantage over other goalkeepers in the tournament. "Luckily, I had the foresight that it wasn't going to be like a normal Premiership ball," he explains, "so with four or five weeks to go at the end of the season I asked my agent to get me half a dozen of them.
"I integrated them with my training balls at Spurs, so I have been working with this ball now for about eight weeks. I think I have given myself the best opportunity.
"You just have to deal with it and for me, that means playing my normal game. If you start doing things differently that's when things can go wrong. I think, for example, that when a shot comes in you have a bigger space if you have your hands spread to catch the ball rather than punching it. If you put your fists together and punch you have a lot smaller area. If you spread your hands you have a bigger area to catch it or at least take the sting out of the ball and palm it down."
A student of his profession, Robinson's preparations have also included swotting up on the penalty takers and dead-ball experts he may come up against. His luggage included a DVD of penalty shoot-outs from previous tournaments and the Football Association's video technician Gary Guyan, who is permanently based with the team, has been putting together clips of opposition strikers for Robinson and his understudies, David James and Scott Carson, to scrutinise.
Robinson, who has kept 10 clean sheets in his 21 England appearances, used similar research in the Premiership for Tottenham Hotspur last season and the 26-year-old credits his background work for helping him save a penalty from Teddy Sheringham in their final game of the season at West Ham United.
"We have DVD players in our hotel rooms, plus a big screen in the room for team meetings, and we're extremely well briefed on our opponents," he said. "I've got some footage, for example, of Paraguay's set-pieces, their corners, their free-kicks. And I know about the people who will take penalties if we concede one or, later in the tournament, if it comes to a penalty shoot-out.
"There is video footage that you can get hold of and there are statistical records you can get hold of.
"I have my sources and I am giving myself every opportunity and the best chance possible of saving penalties. We have to be as prepared as we can."
According to the official blurb about the new World Cup ball, there are "fine gold accents along rounded propellers and a revolutionary new panel shape to create a more homogeneous system." Paul Robinson, the archetypal straight-talking Yorkshireman, cuts to the chase. "It's like playing with a water-polo ball. The best description for it is goalkeeper-unfriendly. Very unfriendly."
Officially, Robinson was not supposed to get his hands on the new Adidas Teamgeist ball until England's first training session in Buhlertal yesterday. Instead, the England goalkeeper, mindful of David Seaman's complaints before the last tournament, had the foresight to pre-order six, at a price of £420, so he could get some advance practice. He is well placed, therefore, to comment about the damage Ronaldinho, David Beckham and the World Cup's other dead-ball specialists could inflict on unsuspecting goalkeepers over the next four weeks or so.
"The players these days are top quality. They can do anything with the ball and this one moves all over the place. It's a difficult ball for goalkeepers, full stop. There's no stitching whatsoever. It's two sections glued together and it's a lot lighter than the Premiership ball. Every ball is going to move unless you go back to the old-fashioned bricks that we used to play with on frosty school mornings, but this one moves everywhere.
"There's a plastic coating around it and when it's wet it's even worse. We just have to live with it, but it's not at all goalkeeper-friendly."
Jens Lehmann, the Germany No1, has voiced similar reservations despite Adidas's close links to the host team, but Robinson's meticulous planning has given him an advantage over other goalkeepers in the tournament. "Luckily, I had the foresight that it wasn't going to be like a normal Premiership ball," he explains, "so with four or five weeks to go at the end of the season I asked my agent to get me half a dozen of them.
"I integrated them with my training balls at Spurs, so I have been working with this ball now for about eight weeks. I think I have given myself the best opportunity.
"You just have to deal with it and for me, that means playing my normal game. If you start doing things differently that's when things can go wrong. I think, for example, that when a shot comes in you have a bigger space if you have your hands spread to catch the ball rather than punching it. If you put your fists together and punch you have a lot smaller area. If you spread your hands you have a bigger area to catch it or at least take the sting out of the ball and palm it down."
A student of his profession, Robinson's preparations have also included swotting up on the penalty takers and dead-ball experts he may come up against. His luggage included a DVD of penalty shoot-outs from previous tournaments and the Football Association's video technician Gary Guyan, who is permanently based with the team, has been putting together clips of opposition strikers for Robinson and his understudies, David James and Scott Carson, to scrutinise.
Robinson, who has kept 10 clean sheets in his 21 England appearances, used similar research in the Premiership for Tottenham Hotspur last season and the 26-year-old credits his background work for helping him save a penalty from Teddy Sheringham in their final game of the season at West Ham United.
"We have DVD players in our hotel rooms, plus a big screen in the room for team meetings, and we're extremely well briefed on our opponents," he said. "I've got some footage, for example, of Paraguay's set-pieces, their corners, their free-kicks. And I know about the people who will take penalties if we concede one or, later in the tournament, if it comes to a penalty shoot-out.
"There is video footage that you can get hold of and there are statistical records you can get hold of.
"I have my sources and I am giving myself every opportunity and the best chance possible of saving penalties. We have to be as prepared as we can."
