Milovan refuses to blame Jabulani for Kingson howler

From Abdulai M. Gariba, GNA Special Correspondent, Rustenburg, South Africa

Rustenburg, South Africa, June 20, GNA - Black Stars trainer Milovan has refused to blame "Jabulani" for the blunder by goalkeeper Richard Kingson during the Ghana-Australia 2010 World Cup match.

Kingson has been blamed for the Aussies opener after spilli ng Marco Bresciano's free-kick for Brett Holman to slam home, but Milovan has rebuffed claims in certain quarters pointing to the official match ball "Jabulani" as the reason.

"Jabulani" has come under a lot of criticisms from many players, coaches and officials for its swiftness and difficult to handle nature. The Stars trainer acknowledged that it was 'bad' goal conceded by his team but refused to single out Kingson and Jabulani of any blame. "We conceded an easy goal and it's not good for our team. We shouldn't have conceded such a goal.

"There has been a lot of attention on the ball but I don't want to comment about it. The ball is very difficult to play and you cannot know its chemistry.

"The ball is very fast and you have to know how to going about it." He added.

Jabulani, manufactured by kit sports kit giants, Adidas, was unveiled on December 4, 2009, as the official match ball for the South Africa 2010 World Cup.

Meaning "rejoice" in Zulu, a local South African language, Jabulani, has contrastingly been in the headlines negatively.