In the build up to this summer's World Cup in Russia, Spain's Pepe Reina was one among a number of goalkeepers who had taken serious issue with the official game ball of the tournament.
Although the World Cup has hardly experienced a spate of goalkeeping errors on account of the Adidas football, Uruguay's Fernando Muslera was an unfortunate exception to that rule this afternoon when he palmed an Antoine Griezmann shot into his own goal.
GOAL France #URU 0-2 #FRA
A howler from the Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera as Antoine Griezmann makes it 2-0 to France.#RTEsoccer
Updates: https://t.co/aAHvF5QO3X pic.twitter.com/9QsDL4y4dq— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) July 6, 2018
Although some questioned the effectiveness of Muslera's approach rather than the ball itself, Reina is certain that his pre-tournament warnings have come to fruition.
Taking to Twitter, the former Liverpool 'keeper criticised those who cherished the 'spectacle' of goals ahead of the goalkeeper's capabilities to deal with the ball.
Vamos a seguir “inventando” balones si si...q a los porteros nos va a parecer cada vez más fácil “intuir o adivinar” las trayectorias 😕😒 “espectáculo” se busca de otro modo!!
— Pepe Reina (@PReina25) July 6, 2018
Identifying the undetermined 'we', Reina believes that the incessant 'inventing' of new balls ultimately undermines goalkeepers; leaving them with little choice but to guess, or intuit what direction a ball may travel.
A desperately sad afternoon for Muslera, his mistake all but ended Uruguay's hopes of dragging their way back into this afternoon's World Cup quarter-final.
