Posted on 06/19/2018 10:41:19 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Every four years there’s a new ball for the World Cup—and every four years players are unhappy with it. Maybe it’s too light and has too much lift, like the 2002 Fevernova. Or maybe it wobbles unexpectedly in the air, making it harder for goalies to predict its motion, like the 2006 Teamgist. Or maybe the ball suddenly changes speed, dropping out of the air and causing accidental handballs, like the 2010 Jabulani.
At the World Cup level, these tiny changes in a ball’s aerodynamics can legitimately impact a team’s performance, so the intense scrutiny of the World Cup ball is perhaps to be expected. “You could argue that it’s the most important piece of equipment in the most popular sport in the world,” says John Eric Goff, Professor of Physics at University of Lynchburg.
Adidas designs every World Cup ball, and on top of being a big seller for them, engineers at the company are constantly a little closer to the perfect ball, Goff says. The ideal soccer ball is a pimple-covered, perfect sphere, its surface just subtly textured enough to keep the airflow around the ball slightly turbulent. Unintuitive as this might sound, the ridges and pimples on the ball make it more aerodynamic, helping the ball to fly through the air more stably.
The Telstar 18, the design for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, is as close to a perfect sphere as you can get.
(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...
This in itself is un-American and frankly, repulsive.
Grown men acting like little whiny bitches.
It is unsportsmanlike and off-putting to my American value system.
Any man who does that is not worthy of my respect.
Pepe slammed after ’embarrassing’ dive
http://www.foxsportsasia.com/football/world-cup/904448/pepe-slammed-embarrassing-dive/
Everyone flops
First, let’s dispel the myth that diving is uniquely awful in soccer. All sports see a degree of exaggeration and deception, though some are more obvious than others. NBA players do it. So do NFL players. Even hockey players.
David Beckham predicts England v Argentina final
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44562759
Penalties galore! Is this the World Cup of spot-kicks?
Another VAR penalty is awarded in Australia’s 1-1 draw with Denmark making it eleven in the tournament already, so will the 2018 World Cup see a huge record number of spot-kicks
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44564392
FT: France 1-0 Peru
Today Is the Longest Day of the Year. Here’s What to Know About the 2018 Summer Solstice
http://time.com/5314789/summer-solstice-facts/
Argentina 0-1 Croatia
Terrible goalie error.
WOOOO HOOOOO! I told you the Argies wouldn’t make it out of the group.
Argentina 0-2 Croatia
LUKA!!!!!!
Adios to the land of Che and Bergoglio!
How is that not a Red Card?!?!?!?!?!
3-0!!
Argentina 0-3 Croatia
Not the kind of match we expected.
I didn’t think the Argies were that good.
Iceland should make it out of the group.
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