USA’s goalkeeper Kasey Keller has been critical of the new World Cup Ball claiming goalkeepers “do not have any idea what the ball is going to do.”
Keller believes the ball is so light, it is not only flying through the air more quickly than goalkeepers are used to but it also moves around in the air, at times making normal shot-stopping an almost impossible task.
“It is a very light, fast ball,” he said.
“It moves quicker in the air, so it arrives on you a fraction of a second faster than you would normally expect.
“It does not sound much but it makes a very big difference. Not only that, it has a wobble, so it moves slightly in both directions.
Many other goalkeepers might agree with him but T & T’s goalkeeper Shaka Hislop didn’t seem to find it too much trouble.He was able to get behind the ball a fraction of a second before it headed goalwards on many ocassions in the course of their world cup debut match against Sweden.Spectacular goalkeeping from him kept the Swedes from putting the new ball into the goal – no matter how they tried to get the ball to wobble or dip or move slightly in both directions or whatever !