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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;POLOKWANE, South Africa, June 13 (Reuters) -- A new mixed synthetic pitch being used for the first time at a World Cup finals was criticized by players on Sunday who say it causes unpredictable bounces and gives goalkeepers particular problems.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Both the 1-0 winners of Sunday's Polokwane match Slovenia -- who were propelled to the top of Group C -- and losers Algeria criticised the pitch which contains a mixture of grass and a synthetic fibre.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The same kind of surface will be used for matches played at Nelspruit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Algerian defender Majid Bougherra said Slovenia's lone goal would never had gone into the net on a pure grass pitch.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The match was settled when skipper Robert Koren's relatively innocuous 79th minute shot bobbled out of Algerian keeper Faouzi Chaouchi's arms.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"Sometimes like the goal scored today -- if we had had a normal pitch it would never have gone in,\" he said.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"In the last bounce it went quickly and it changed the thinking of the goalkeeper.\"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Players also complained about the new Jabulani ball being used at the finals, saying it had been particularly difficult to control in a match littered with loose passes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"For the player when we shoot it's a good ball but for the keeper it's horrible,\" Bougherra said. \"In the air sometimes it changes (course) at the last minute so it's very difficult.\"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Man-of-the-match Koren said Saturday's goalkeeping gaffe against the United States also in Group C by England's Robert Green -- on grass -- plus Chaouchi's error were largely due to a capricious ball bounce.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Green allowed the U.S. equalizer in a 1-1 draw to run through his fingers from a long-range shot.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"It's really difficult for the keepers because one mistake from the keeper and the ball is already in the net,\" he said.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"We saw this yesterday when USA scored against England and we saw today when we scored -- it was with a bit of help.\"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another seven matches will be played on the mixed synthetic and grass pitches including France against Mexico on June 17 and Greece against Argentina on June 22.&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/soccer/2010/06/13/pitch-anger>