Soccer players literally have dropped without being hit.
But I think it was the timing of the hit more than the severity of the hit, and it does seem the chest area took most of the force from the hit.
Was watching the Netherlands match when a player dropped. Did not die but I think he had to give up playing.
When we first watched it live, we didn’t catch how the hit was until we replayed it a few times. That’s when we realized it was really close to the heart and sternum. It made us remember the baseball and hockey injuries we’ve seen in the past. For this, I think it was the timing of the hit to the chest. Whether a vax also came into play, I have no way of knowing or guessing. Everything is really just speculation.