Why are the matches taking so long in Qatar 2022?

The opening match between hosts Qatar and Ecuador accumulated ten minutes of additional time, with five minutes in each episode; Senegal-Netherlands, ten more, two in the first act and eight in the second act; The USA-Wales, which closed the day on Monday, got into the 103rd minute as they got 4 minutes extra in the first half and 9 minutes in the second half.

The longest time ever in the tournament was in the England-Iran match, which reached a total of 24 minutes of overtime. The injury of the starting goalkeeper of the Iranian team, Alireza Beiranvand, and the penalty awarded to the British caused VAR to step in in overtime.

When all the matches of the first two days reached 100 minutes, this meant: Pierluigi CollinaThe legendary referee, now chairman of the FIFA arbitration committee, stepped in to clarify this fact and clear any doubt.

“If you want to spend more active time…”

“What we did already in Russia 2018 was to calculate the compensation period more precisely. We told everyone not to be surprised if they see the fourth referee picking up the e-card with a big number of six, seven, eight minutes,” he said. Consider a game where three goals are scored. A celebration normally lasts a minute and a half, so you lose five or six minutes with three goals scored,” Collina argued.

“We want to avoid games with an active time of 42, 43 or 44 minutes. Therefore, times will have to be made up for substitutions, penalties, celebrations, medical attention or of course VAR.”

“What we want to do is to accurately calculate the added time at the end of each half. He may be the fourth official responsible for doing this, we’ve had success in Russia and we expect the same in Qatar. I’m not talking about VAR interference, it’s something different and the Video Assistant Referee.” It was calculated very precisely,” he said.

“Even when I was a referee, this information was always coming from the fourth referee. As a referee, you are so focused on what is going on that you may not take anything into consideration. Usually it is the fourth referee who recommends the overtime, and usually the referee decides… and he decides”, Italian player, He spoke with absolute naturalness about this policy, which has so far been more than an extra hour in the World Cup.

But this measure also caused a greater physical demand for football players. As a matter of fact, at the end of the USA-Wales match, where Qatari referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim gave 9 minutes of extra time, many players fell to the ground and received cramp treatment. Paradoxically, a fact that led the referee to add even more overtime. The second half lasted more than 55 minutes, with no serious injuries or VAR, and only one goal scored.

affect concentration

“I think there’s 24 minutes of extra time in the game. It’s been a long period of concentration,” said England manager Gareth Southgate at the end of the England-Iran game.

This extension of playing time could be disastrous, said former Belgian coach Marc Wilmots, the current head coach of Raja Casablanca. “I’ve seen the USA fall against Wales. The cramps, the injury issues and the players who are already on the edge that surprised me,” he said. “The calendars are set to play seven games in 28 days, not to mention overtime, if this continues it could be 140 minutes, this is unsustainable.”

However, the referees’ goal of extending effective playing time is also welcomed by other football personalities such as former England national team Jamie Carragher. «I love this time added by the World Cup referees. There is a lot of time lost in football,” he shared on social media.