World Cup: Rochet says Al Rihla ball ‘is better for strikers’, but Ramsdale feels ‘it’s got better for goalkeepers’

DOHA – Goalkeepers are facing an ever tougher task at World Cup tournaments as the balls travel increasingly fast in flight and

the new model being used in Qatar

is no exception, Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet said on Sunday.

“Year after year, it gets better for the strikers and for us goalkeepers it gets very tough,” Rochet told reporters, ahead of the South Americans’ first match of the 2022 World Cup against South Korea on Thursday.

Fifa has said that the new ball – named Al Rihla or “the journey” in Arabic – travels faster than any other in the tournament’s history.

“This is a very fast ball,” Rochet said. “We are in a process of adaptation.”

Previous World Cup balls have come under fire from goalkeepers, most notably the Jabulani ball, also an Adidas product, which was slammed by Spain’s Iker Casillas and Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon at South Africa 2010.

Azzurri legend Buffon said then: “The new model is absolutely inadequate and I think it’s shameful letting us play such an important competition, where a lot of champions take part, with a ball like this.”

Ex-England goalkeeper David James described it as “dreadful” and “horrible” while the designer of the iconic Adidas Predator boot, Craig Johnston, previously told The Telegraph: “Whoever is responsible for this should be taken out and shot for crimes against football.”

However, current England custodian Aaron Ramsdale said Al Rihla is nothing like its Jabulani predecessor having trialled it with his club side Arsenal, as they are also sponsored by Adidas.

He said: “That’s obviously in the past and everything changes now. We trained with it a couple of (England) camps ago, so we got used to it then, and obviously being with Arsenal, being Adidas, we’ve had time to test it as well for Fifa, so I’ve had quite a lot of exposure to the football.”

“It’s probably one of the better Adidas balls I’ve played with. I’ve never felt another World Cup ball, so I can’t go off that, but I’ve played with Adidas balls before, and European Championship balls and stuff, so it seems fine to me.

“It seems like it’s got better for goalkeepers as well as keeping it for the strikers, so hopefully there’ll be lots of saves but also lots of goals as well.”

England’s Group B rivals Wales were less committal.

Nottingham Forest custodian Wayne Hennessey told PA Sport: “We have had it now for a few training sessions. They keep changing the patterns and colours.”

“So for us, it is getting to see and train with it as much as possible, and that is probably the best answer I can give you on that.”

His rival for the No. 1 jersey, Danny Ward of Leicester City, was more blunt, opining: “It doesn’t matter which ball it is. You still have to do your job and try to keep it out of the back of the net.”

Physics professor from the University of Lynchburg John Eric Goff explained the difference between Al Rihla and its predecessor to The Conversation.

He said: “Instead of using raised textures to increase surface roughness like with previous balls, the Al Rihla is covered with dimple-like features that give its surface a relatively smooth feel compared to its predecessors.

“To make up for the smoother feel, the Al Rihla’s seams are wider and deeper – perhaps learning from the mistakes of the overly smooth Jabulani, which had the shallowest and shortest seams of recent World Cup balls and which many players felt was slow in the air...

“Considering that most free kicks start off travelling in excess of 60 mph (97 kmh), it makes sense that players felt the Jabulani was slow and hard to predict. The Al Rihla has aerodynamic characteristics very similar to its two predecessors, and if anything, may even move a bit faster at lower speeds.

“Every new ball is met with complaints from somebody, but the science shows that the Al Rihla should feel familiar to the players in this year’s World Cup.” REUTERS