By Devin White
Every four years the World Cup comes together to celebrate the competition of the 32 best teams the world has to offer.
On Sunday, Spain squares off against the Netherlands in the final.
The World Cup brings the best players, coaches and fans to a common nation in search for the thrill and dream of winning the fabled gold trophy.
In a sport where you have 90 minutes, or maybe even more, to survive, it only takes one second to change the course of the game. That one second can even change the world. As Nike has so nearly said in their latest add campaign, players can write their own future in the game, and the effect it has on the world is even greater than the effect it had on the World Cup itself.
The magnitude that one strike of the ball, or even one mistake on the ball is 100 times bigger than you can even imagine. In the World Cup, it’s the difference between a nation moving on, or being halted in its tracks. It’s the difference between glory and failure. It’s the difference between millions in celebration deep into the night, or mass depression for weeks.
Yeah, it is just a sport, but in essence, soccer represents more than that. For many, it’s a way of life. Where does innovation fit in? Every World Cup has a common ball that is used in every game. It’s made by Adidas and is a highly advanced piece of technology in the game of soccer. Here’s how the ball is made…
http://www.soccerballworld.com/Jabulani_2010.htm (A short way down the page see the video)
Up to this point in the world cup, there’s been a great deal of controversy over the ball. Goalies have blamed about four goals on the irregular movement of the ball. Now are those excuses? Well, they might be, but there’s new evidence emerging every day backing up the blundered goalies claims.
Scientist in Norway and Denmark have accounted for the goalies’ blunders due to the perfect spherical shape of the ball. The ball has internal stitching, which means that it is an internal enclosure, making it a near perfect sphere.
A combination of the velocity of ball when it’s struck and the aerodynamics of the grip on the ball is making the ball have an extraordinary ability to knuckle. Balls with less technology, or with less of a perfect sphere, would spin against the air as it moves from foot to goal.
This allows the goalie to see a path or a route where they think the ball is going. The goalie is able to see the spin and anticipate where the ball is headed, so they can make the save. With this new ball, if struck at the right speed and with the right part of your foot (your laces), the ball will knuckle and move with a random projection. This randomness of the ball’s path in a combination with the sheer weight of the ball, which allows a player to hit it harder than ever before, is indeed a nightmare for goalies.
The ball is an innovation that is wreaking havoc in the world of soccer. It’s not just goalies that are complaining. Field players are complaining about their crosses into the box going 20 yards past their anticipated target and not being able to head the ball because of its random movement.
So the question is…Has this innovation plagued the game of soccer and furthermore the 2010 World Cup?
In a competition where one shot, one second, one player can change the world of sport, and maybe the course of history, is a ball that can be hit harder, faster, and with more movement really worth it?
Maybe we should ask Robert Green, England’s goalie, who is now sitting at home having been eliminated from the quest of glory. I’m sure you’ve heard the story…
Let’s Show the World…Don’t Stop Thinking
Editor’s note: Devin White is our resident teen blogger.
