Hart argued that goalkeepers are finding it particularly difficult to deal with shots struck without curl and travelling at shoulder height. According to the former Manchester City goalkeeper, the issue has become too common throughout the tournament to be dismissed as coincidence.
“I am seeing this goal way too many times at a World Cup for there not to be something up with that football,” Hart explained. “It is that shoulder height, as soon as they are not using a curling technique and that ball is not moving or spinning, the goalkeepers are struggling.”
Discussing Mbappe’s strike, he added: “Kylian Mbappe gets it out of his feet, of course there are a few defenders in the way and that makes it difficult for (goalkeeper) Ahmed (Basil), but he has his eyes on it from this moment on. Watch the trajectory of the ball, it is not moving.
“It is not right in the corner – this is not me coming for the goalkeeper because I have seen this with (Edouard) Mendy, (Luca) Zidane, Pickford – they just cannot seem to get their timing right with this World Cup football with anything above shoulder height that is not a curled effort.
“As it leaves (Mbappe’s foot) a World Cup goalkeeper can get a step in and dive, but it seems as if it is on him before he can even make contact. How many times at the top level do you see a goalkeeper touch it and it go in? Very rarely, because they are good enough that if they do get contact they get it wide.”
