Dirty TackleMexico goalkeepers train with NFL balls, prepare for confusion
Just about everyone (except Adidas employees and Adidas-sponsored Kaka) has been moaning about the World Cup ball -- goalkeepers in particular -- saying that it feels weird, moves unnaturally, and may cause bunnies to spontaneously combust. Even though it has produced only 18 goals in the first 11 matches of the tournament. Yet, there have been a few prominent goalkeeper bloopers already. Though England goalkeeper Rob Green manfully declined to blame the ball for his goof-up against the U.S., Algeria coach Rabah Saddane did the exact opposite after Faouzi Chaouchi's gaffe handed Slovenia a win.
So to combat this overblown issue, Mexico's goalkeeping coach is employing a different training device -- NFL balls.
From the AP:
At Monday’s practice, Mexico goalkeeping coach Alberto Aguilar used NFL footballs in a drill to better prepare his players for, well, that which you can never really prepare for.
Yes! Next teams will start training with frisbees, meatballs and copies of Stephenie Meyer books to prepare for the things they can never really prepare for even further.
But as unusual as the World Cup ball may be, it seems that training with a ball that's a different shape is kind of overcompensating for the problem. I mean, as unpredictable as it's claimed to be, could the World Cup ball possibly move like an oblong-shaped ball? If it does, Aguilar is a genius. If it doesn't, Mexico's goalkeeper could be blaming it for acting too much like a normal ball.
Photos: Getty Images
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