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Bhoys goalie blames Jabulani | Not too long ago, Lukasz Zaluska spoke with excitement about the lightning fast turn-around in his fortunes as a Celtic player. The former Dundee United goalkeeper, who had been deputizing for his Polish compatriot Artur Boruc ever since his arrival in Glasgow, was suddenly handed the starting role during the Bhoys’ North American tour.
Zaluska was not simply given his big break because it was pre-season. In fact, Celtic had very little time to respond when Boruc took off for Fiorentina rather than taking the flight across the pond with his teammates. Fast forward a few weeks and it doesn’t appear to be all that exciting for the 28-year old year old Zaluska as he transitions into his new role.
After Wednesday night’s disappointing 3-0 loss to Braga, where the Hoops conceded all their goals from set pieces, Zaluska came in for some criticism for uncharacteristically poor positioning. Considering that he is well-renowned for his ability to read the opposition’s attack, the Poland international was particularly held liable for completely misreading the play that led to the third goal.
Zaluska, though, has his own theories about the way the night progressed. He appears so frustrated with himself and his teammates that he has chosen to take it all out on poor officiating and, well, the Jabulani ball that first became infamous during this summer’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Speaking to Glasgow Evening Times, he said: “The game had been 50/50. Braga were not a much better team and it’s very hard to take.”
He added: “I don’t think it was a penalty first of all. Then they scored from two set-pieces which was very disappointing. Something happened with the Jabulani ball and it’s very bad for keepers and defenders.”
To offer his encouragement to the Bhoys’ faithful, the goalkeeper joined manager Neil Lennon and new Celtic midfielder Joe Ledley in insisting that the tie is very much alive, especially if the SPL side can capitalize on their home advantage in the second leg.
“That was the first half and the second half comes at Celtic Park. If there are 60,000 Celtic fans then anything is possible. I just hope we can play better at home,” he stated.
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I played w/ a Jabulani ball last week. The ball is garbage, the worst ball in human history. May Adidas go bankrupt and never subject another World Cup to another Jabulani-like disaster!
All Dundee United fans know of Zaluska’s problems with set pieces, this is not new news to us. Why do you think we always had massive defenders like of Andy Webster, Darren Dodds and Garry Kenneth in front of him who all knew they had to deal with any balls in the box. Lukasz is a great goalie but like all of us he has his faults.