As expected by the FIFA Referees Committee, all minutes “lost” during a match of this World Cup are made up in added time. Until reaching matches of more than 100 minutes without any particular incident.
Who said a football match lasted 90 minutes? As their legendary boss Pierluigi Collina had announced before the tournament, the referees of the 2022 World Cup are leaving a lot of additional time and several meetings have extended well beyond the traditional hour and a half, with players sometimes exhausted. .
According to a BBC tally, the first four matches in the competition resulted in a total of 65 minutes of added time. The most spectacular match in this register was England-Iran (6-2), which lasted in all more than 117 minutes, with in particular 14 minutes of additional time announced at the end of the first period. In this specific case, it is partly explained by two significant injuries, one in each period. In the first half, Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand suffered a concussion after a spectacular head-to-head clash with a team-mate.
But the other three matches, Qatar-Ecuador, Senegal-Netherlands and Wales-United States, also exceeded 100 minutes, without having been marked by major medical incidents.
The explanation is to be found in the words of the chairman of the FIFA referees committee Pierluigi Collina, who announced last Thursday that the referees would be “very attentive” in actual playing time. “We want to avoid matches at 42, 43, 44 minutes of effective time. So substitution times, penalties, celebrations, medical care or of course VAR, will have to be compensated.he explains. “Celebrations can sometimes last 90 seconds. This time must be compensated”added the former Italian referee, referring to the “respect for spectators and viewers”.
avalanche of cramps
If the intention is laudable, it also has its setbacks. At the end of the USA-Wales match on Monday, Qatari referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim announced nine minutes of extra time. During this extra time, several players collapsed and had to be treated for cramps, which resulted in even more added time. The second period thus lasted more than 55 minutes, without serious injury or the use of VAR and with only one goal scored.
Several very late goals were also scored, such as that of the Iranian Mehdi Taremi, scored in the 103rd minute or that of the Dutchman Davy Klaassen, recorded in the 99th minute. Two records. “I believe there were 24 minutes of added time in the game. That’s a lot of concentration time.”noted England coach Gareth Southgate. “We just lost our concentration and when we play at a slower tempo, we are not at all as efficient”he added.
For former Belgian coach Marc Wilmots, this extension of playing time can be harmful. “I saw the United States dive against Wales. We couldn’t find their team. What amazes me are the cramps, the injury problems and the players who are already exhausted.he said at the microphone of RTBF. “The schedules have been tightened so playing seven matches over 28 days without talking about the extra time which could be 140 minutes if it continues like this, it’s untenable”, he added. Former England international Jamie Carragher for his part shared on Twitter his joy at this new doctrine. “I like this time added by the World Cup referees. There is too much wasted time in football!”