Innovation or Waste of Time?

Coaches need to do their best to maximize the training time they have between first round matches in the World Cup in order to make sure players are physically and tactically prepared for the next game. This can be difficult, as players are often nursing minor injuries from earlier games, and, from a broader perspective, the group of players and coaches has been together for so long that coaches run the risk of being tuned out. So every training exercise has to have a purpose and has to be relevant to the next match. That's why it was so odd when it was reported that Mexico's goalkeeper coach was using NFL footballs in training with their goalies to prepare them for the unpredictable bounces that the World Cup game ball, the adidas Jabulani, has been prone to. Apparently the idea is that the oblong shape of the American footballs will cause it to spin and bounce in the same way that the Jabulani does. This raised a simple question: Why? If the goalkeepers are having a hard time adjusting to the ball, then they should get as much time with that ball as possible to get used to it. Now doesn't seem like the best time for gimmicks. Either the goalies are so psyched out by the ball that it is all they can think about or this goalkeeper coach is crazy. Is he going to have his players chasing around chickens in the penalty box, just like Rocky did when training for his big fights? Probably not, but I suppose anything is possible. So in the first round of "Innovation or Waste of Time," training with footballs to prepare for a soccer ball is a Waste of Time.