Jabulani: Players Not A Fan...i

The new World Cup ball has caused some controversy amongst the players. Luis Fabiano:

"It's very weird," Brazil striker Luis Fabiano said Sunday. "All of a sudden it changes trajectory on you. It's like it doesn't want to be kicked. It's incredible, it's like someone is guiding it. You are going to kick it and it moves out of the way. I think it's supernatural, it's very bad. I hope to adapt to it as soon as possible, but it's going to be hard."

Julio Cesar:

Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar on Saturday called the ball "terrible" and was the first to compare it to those plastic ones bought at a supermarket.

Giampaolo Pazzini:

"It moves so much and makes it difficult to control. You jump up to head a cross and suddenly the ball will move and you miss it," Pazzini said. "It is especially bad for the goalkeepers if it means they concede a goal because they can't judge the trajectory."

Julio Baptista:

"There is no way to hide it," Brazil midfielder Julio Baptista said. "It's bad for the goalkeepers and it's bad for us. It's really bad. The players try to cross it and it goes to the opposite direction they intended it to go."

Iker Casillas:

"It's sad that that such an important competition like the World Cup has such an important element like this ball of appalling condition," he said.

Prior to its use in these friendlies, the Adidas propaganda machine deployed its sponsored athletes:

Adidas has released some promotional materials in which some of its sponsored players praise the ball, including Kaka, Michael Ballack, Petr Cech and Frank Lampard. Ballack called the ball "fantastic."

Bashing World Cup balls is not a new development though:

Adidas traditionally launches new balls for each World Cup and they usually cause controversy because of the changes prompted by the new technology being introduced. Most of the time the ball becomes speedier and goalkeepers are the ones most affected by it. But this time the livelier ball is causing problems for field players, too.

The World Cup is the greatest competition in the world. I do not understand why Adidas continues to meddle with their ball technology. The best football in the world must be played on the pitch. However, this can be severely affected by the object that should be controlled: the ball. An unfortunate development so close to the World Cup.