As if facing some of the world's best strikers isn't enough of a worry for the All Whites' last line of defence at the football World Cup, the goalkeepers face another: the combination of a lighter ball and South Africa's high veldt.
Mark Paston, who's likely to play against Slovakia and Italy because Glen Moss still has two matches of his four-match suspension to serve, has trained with the tournament ball.
He says they're not really goalkeeper-friendly, especially at altitude because they fly faster, and move more in the air than the slightly heavier A-League ball, so they can do nasty things at times.
Paston's penalty save in the win over Bahrain helped the All Whites to next month's tournament in South Africa.
