Luca Zidane hampered by World Cup official ball, according to Joe Hart

Algeria suffered a heavy defeat in their World Cup 2026 opener, losing 3-0 to Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in Kansas City. Starting in goal for the Fennecs, Luca Zidane was directly blamed for the first and second goals from “La Pulga”.

But for Joe Hart, the performance of Zinédine Zidane’s son deserves a more nuanced reading. On the BBC panel, the former English international goalkeeper pointed to the behavior of the tournament’s official ball, the “Trionda”, which he judges particularly difficult for goalkeepers to handle.

“At the moment the ball leaves his foot, it’s not a great shot, it’s a good shot. Luca Zidane is quite capable of stopping this ball, but again, he fails to properly time his intervention. It looks like the ball reaches him before he’s had time to position his hands correctly. He ends up pushing it away rather than deflecting it over the bar,” Hart analyzed.

According to him, the “Trionda” accelerates significantly after the strike, more than a standard ball, which throws off the timing of goalkeepers’ interventions. A characteristic that would not be unique to Zidane: Hart believes all the tournament’s goalkeepers will need to adapt as matches progress.

“I think as the tournament goes on and players get used to the atmosphere and the speed of the ball, as well as these specific World Cup balls, we’re going to see these shots being stopped,” he concluded.

Algeria, playing their first major minutes in this 2026 World Cup, will need to bounce back quickly if they hope to continue their adventure. Messi, who scored a hat-trick, confirmed his status as title favorite from the start.