The first matches of the World Cup confirm the trend of the referees: every lost minute of play is recovered
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar, so special for so many things, is also for the duration of the matches. The referees had warned through their FIFA committee that one of their battlegrounds in this tournament on the coast of the Persian Gulf would become the fight against time wasters, and for now they are strictly adhering to the warnings for the first few days. Every minute that elapses without playing during regular time comes back after extra time, bringing the first four games to 100 minutes.
The opening game, between the hosts Qatar and Ecuador, saw ten minutes added time, five in each leg; Senegal-Netherlands another ten, of which two in the first act and eight in the second; while the United States-Wales that ended the day on Monday went up to minute 103 thanks to the 4 extra minutes in the first half and 9 in the second.
Although the longest duration to date in the tournament came in the match between England and Iran, which reached a total of 24 minutes of added time. The injury to the starting goalkeeper of the Iranian team and a penalty kick against the English that led to intervention by the VAR in extra time were the cause.
The fact that all the matches of the first two days lasted 100 minutes prompted Pierluigi Collina, the legendary referee who is now president of FIFA’s arbitration committee, to step in to explain this fact and clear up any doubts. “If you want more active time…”. “What we already did in Russia 2018 was to calculate the compensation time more accurately. We told everyone not to be surprised if they see the fourth official lift the electronic board with a big number, six, seven or eight minutes,” said the Italian. “If more active time is desired, we have to be prepared for this kind of extra time to be granted. Think of a game with three goals. A party normally lasts a minute, a minute and a half, so with three goals you lose five or six minutes,” Collina argued.
“What we want to do is accurately calculate the added time at the end of each half. It could be the fourth official in charge, we were successful in Russia and we expect the same in Qatar. I’m not talking about the intervention of the VAR, this is something else and very precisely calculated by the Video Assistant Referee”, he clarified.
“Even when I refereed, this information always came from the fourth official. As a referee you are so focused on what is happening that you might not think about something. It is usually the fourth official who proposes the amount of extra time and usually the referee decides… and decides”, the Italian concluded completely naturally.
Matches of 100 minutes or more:
Qatar-Ecuador: 10 minutes added (5+5)
England v Iran: 24 minutes (14+10)
Senegal-Netherlands: 10 minutes (2+8)
United States-Wales: 13 minutes (4+9)
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
