Blame the Jabulani football, not the leader

At the time of writing, I’m not alone in reflecting on England’s exit from the football World Cup – the papers, the internet, the broadcast media seem to be talking about nothing else today. But if you cast your mind back just a few days, one of the biggest talking points in South Africa was the near-universal disdain of the Jabulani football, introduced for the competition by FIFA, the governing body. This will no doubt become a footnote in the annals of what will, I’m sure, turn out to be a great tournament (despite England’s sorry demise), but it is interesting to look at this from the perspective of its apparent psychological impact on some teams.

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