World Cup 2026: Trionda ball making it harder for goalkeepers?

Kasper Schmeichel thinks so.

The former Denmark goalkeeper took no chances and familiarized himself with the adidas ball long before the tournament began.

Schmeichel trained with Trionda after his release in October 2025, only to lose in their play-off final against the Czech Republic.

Now retired, Schmeichel is apt to offer an insight into what he calls “serious differences between balls”.

“The thing about it is its construction is four panels this time.” he told the BBC Football Daily Podcast. “There are no stitches in it – it’s all bonded together.

“When you mix that with different weather, air density, there’s less drag on the ball, which means it doesn’t spin as much, but that means I find it a split second faster and I think we’re seeing that a little bit.

“There are a few goals where you see defenders come close to it – Pickford, with Croatia’s first goal – and you’ve got Luca Zidane against (Lionel) Messi and even Eduard Mendy against Mbappe.

“The thing about this ball is we want to see goals, so they create the ball to score goals.”

A lot of goals have already been scored.

In fact, there have been twice as many (20) from outside the box in the entire group stage of 2022.

According to Opta, the number of errors leading to goals is also increasing.

The United States, Canada and Mexico have had 11 so far – more than any group stage in the past seven World Cups.

Although six more games have been conceded so far following the expansion of the tournament, this is still a significant increase.

“How many times at the top level do you see a goalkeeper get a touch and it goes in?” Dr. Hart.

“Rarely because they are good enough that once they communicate, they amplify it.

“I’m noticing in this tournament that goalkeepers are touching it above their shoulder height and they’re not able to keep it out, so something’s going on.”