Join The Club
It wouldn't a World Cup unless there were goalkeepers complaining about the flight of the ball.
Kylian Mbappe's opener for France against Iraq on Monday evening was just the latest long-range effort strike to be hit at a saveable height, only for the keeper to see it hit the back of the net despite getting a hand to it.
And former England goalkeeper Joe Hart is now even more convinced that the ball at this summer's World Cup is causing goalkeepers one very specific problem.
Play our FREE match predictor and win £1k
'THRIKER!'
Speaking on the BBC, Hart said: "So many times I've seen this goal - way too many times for a World Cup for there not to be something up with that football.
"It's when it's that kind of shoulder height...as soon as they're not using the curling technique, as soon as that ball is not moving, it's not spinning, the goalkeepers are struggling.
"Mbappe gets it out of his feet, and of course, there's a few defenders in the way and that makes it difficult for Ahmed - but he has eyes on it from this moment onwards, right? And watch the ball, the trajectory of it, it is not moving (curling).
"Now that's not right in the corner - and this is not me coming for the goalkeeper, because I've seen it happen. I've seen it happen with Mendy, Zidane, Pickford - they just cannot seem to get their timing right with this World Cup football on anything above shoulder height was not a curled effort.
"He's got enough time, and a World Cup goalkeeper can get a step in here and dive, but it seems like it's on him before he's even ready to make contact.
"I was speaking to [fellow pundit] Gael [Clichy] during the first half, and saying: 'How many times at top level do you see the goalkeeper touch it, and it go in the goal?'. Very rarely, because they're good enough that if they do get contact, they get it wide.
"I'm noticing in this tournament that goalkeepers are getting touches on above their shoulder, and they're just not able to keep it out, so something's up."
Hart had given his view on the same issue earlier in the tournament, saying: "I'm noticing it with the higher balls (shots towards the top corner).
"I honestly feel like this ball is coming onto the goalkeepers a lot faster than they than they feel it is off the foot."
Pointing to one of Croatia's goals against England, Hart went on: "What you notice with this is Jordan Pickford flies at this ball and he just doesn't [keep it out].
"You'll ask, 'why has he gone with his thumb rather than his hand?'. It just feels like he's on him [faster than he anticipates].
"I noticed this with Mbappe against [Senegal keeper] Edouard Mendy earlier in the earlier in the tournament...as it leaves [Mbappe's] foot, it's a decent strike, of course it is, but Edouard Mendy is a Champions League winner, and he just doesn't get his hands up, he doesn't time it right. These are world-class goalkeepers at World Cup level.
"With Messi against Zidane - which is a random thing to be saying in a World Cup - as it leaves his foot, that's not a brilliant strike...it's a good strike, but [Algeria keeper Luca] Zidane is more than capable of saving that ball.
"But again, he doesn't quite time it right. It seems like it's on him before he's got his hands up there in the right position, and he ends up kind of pushing at it rather than pushing it over over the bar.
"I think as the tournament goes on and the guys get more used to the atmosphere and the speed of the ball and these specific World Cup footballs, we're going to see those shots saved."
