Ex-Liverpool player Craig Johnston has written an open letter about the Jabulani ball to FIFA president Sepp Blatter. According to Johnston, the “statistics are showing that [this] is the worst passing, shooting and controlling of the ball of any World Cup in history of the competition.”

The 2010 World Cup is on course to have the lowest scoring average per game since the tournament became a 32-nation competition.

Johnston is known as the man behind the adidas Predator football boot and also tested the original prototypes of the Questra World Cup ball for USA 1994.

Wrote Johnston: “By my calculations we have been denied at least 10 more goals that were scored in this World Cup so far, because of the erratic and unstable flight of the Jabulani football …”

The Germans, who have used the Jabulani since the beginning of the year in the Bundesliga, used that knowledge to score their first goal against England, wrote Johnston.

“The German team knew exactly what they were doing when their goalkeeper kicked the ball deep into the edge of the England penalty box, up and over the English defense for an unchallenged 1st goal. No other ball could ever have travelled that far.”

Johnston also wrote that the craft an elite player brings to kicking a ball has been lost with the new ball made by adidas.

“It has an artificial feel and trajectory and only about 20% of the craft a player is putting on the ball is being translated. This equates to about 70% or more of crosses and dead ball free kicks being overhit,” he wrote.

“Two of the best footballs ever made were made by your sponsors. The Fevernova and the Tricolor Ball from the Asian World Cup and French World Cups respectively,” Johnston further wrote in asking FIFA to reconsider bringing an older version back.

The skillful Brazilian player, Robinho, was quoted as saying of the ball: “The guy who designed this never played football.”

Sources
Craig Johnston’s open letter
Soccernet: Tech discussion set for October