Soccer-Nations-Ball to blame for goal glut, says keeper

TAMALE, Ghana, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The balls at the African Nations Cup are flattering strikers and making goalkeepers look stupid, according to South Africa goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs.

The Nations Cup has produced 58 goals in 18 games, many of them spectacular efforts from long distance.

But Josephs believes the glut is down to the unpredictable, multi-coloured ball rather than the skills of the forwards.

"It's terrible, absolutely terrible," he told reporters on Tuesday. "It's not goalkeeper-friendly at all.

"It's the ball's movement that's the problem," he said.

"You're expecting it to do one thing and then it does something totally different, which is hard for a goalkeeper because you're going in one direction and it changes direction in mid-air."

"It makes goalkeepers look like idiots.

"It isn't that the guys have been scoring good goals, it's the ball which has been making the guys look good."

South Africa, who have taken one point from their first two games in Group D, face Senegal in their final game on Thursday.