Fast ball and altitude force Socceroos to adopt simple passing drill, says Pim Verbeek

* Marco Monteverde
* From: The Australian
* June 04, 2010

THE Socceroos' bid to be centimetre-perfect with their delivery of the controversial World Cup ball has forced them to resort to a basic passing drill at training.

The random movement and lightning speed of the Adidas Jabulani ball at altitude continues to upset the Australians, who struggled to adapt to the ball and conditions despite winning their World Cup warm-up match against Denmark 1-0 at Roodepoort Athletics Stadium on Tuesday night.

Australia has a final hit-out against the US at the same venue tomorrow before its opening World Cup group D battle with Germany in Durban on June 14.

Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek said the match against the Americans was an extension of Australia's training program, which has been stripped back to basics to conquer problems with passing the Jabulani ball.

"We've started with a simple passing drill so every ball must be 100 per cent good," the Dutchman said. "In this climate it's impossible to play a ball half a metre not in the right place because the ball never stops, the ball keeps on going -- we have to adjust to it.


"It's difficult to explain if you're not on the field, if you don't touch the ball yourself. A normal curling ball is impossible in altitude. The ball is not making the normal curl -- that's very strange.

"To play a curling ball, you need air resistance -- there's no air resistance here . . . but to get used to it, you have to train like that."

Verbeek said it was more of a struggle for his side's stalwarts to cope with challenges presented by the ball and altitude, rather than his crop of emerging talent.

"Older players who've played already a long time the same way, they will probably have more problems with it than younger players, who don't have that already in their minds."

Verbeek said anything was possible in the race for selection for Australia's match with Germany. "I have a different quality of players for the same position, so it's up to me to find out which kind of players we're going to need against the German team," he said.


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/fast-ball-and-altitude-force-socceroos-to-adopt-simple-passing-drill-says-pim-verbeek/story-e6frg7mf-1225875226864