SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER: USA hoping for a injury free friendly against Australia

Record ID: 455194

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER: USA hoping for a injury free friendly against Australia
  • Date: 5th June 2010
  • Summary: FANS
  • Embargoed: 20th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA2CG7WEZSIJ2Z62X578QPID0BV
  • Story Text: The US soccer team joined criticism of the World Cup ball on Friday (June 4).
    "Listen, the ball's tragic, I mean it's no secret, everyone said that," US goalkeeper Tim Howard. But he said that not liking the ball was no excuse for teams performing badly at World Cup level.
    "I think once you get to a certain level, particularly in goalkeeping, you realise that there's no excuses. There's going to be some crazy goals in this World Cup based on the ball and none are going to be called back. You understand what I'm saying. So, I think as a goalkeeper I'm just trying to pick up the pace of the ball, find that rhythm, working a lot on that and training because as you said it's not only light and moving but it's different now at altitude than it was when we trained with it in the States, you get what I'm saying. So just trying to pick that up, trying to be safe with my decisions. A lot of balls that are comfortable for me to catch on a normal day aren't. And so I just need to kinda figure out, get the bar of danger, if I'm not gonna hold it, just put it in safe areas. And I think that's going to be the key for a lot of goalkeepers."
    Howard is not alone in his criticism of the ball though. Brazil striker Luis Fabiano has described it as weird, while goalkeeper Julio Cesar called it horrible and said it resembled a cheap ball bought in a supermarket. Spain's goalkeeper Iker Casillas complained the official World Cup ball was better suited to the beach than to the finals The US goalkeeper said that they were ready and their main priority was to get to up to speed in their friendly against Australia on Saturday (June 5), but to not have anyone injured.
    "No injuries first, and I think we need a good performance, going into the game. Our second half performance against Turkey was very, very good. So that's a positive. If we can build on that and go into next week feeling like it was a good performance, everyone seemed to play well and that we're in a good rhythm, I think that will be important. I don't think the result is too much of an issue, obviously we'd want to win, that would be great, but no injuries and everybody, like, getting up to speed would be really good."
    U.S. striker Jozy Altidore missed training on Thursday due to a sprained ankle, the United States Soccer Federation said on their website. Altidore was due to undergo a fitness test on Friday (June 4) to decide whether he will be available for the warm-up match against Australia in Johannesburg.
    The U.S. begin their Group C campaign against England on June 12. They will also play Algeria and Slovenia.
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