With time-wasting and the natural slowing down of a game, the large amounts of additional time being added on during games has been one of the main talking points of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar so far.
All three of the tournament's opening three clashes racked up 100+ minutes and the trend has continued into Tuesday and Wednesday, with FIFA clamping down on time wasting by more accurately monitoring the amount of time the game is stopped.
Argentina's shock defeat against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday went on for 113 minutes. Natural delays are an expected part of the game, but when deliberate acts such as play-acting, celebrations and questioning the officiating come into question, it is no wonder the governing bodies are beginning to act.
READ MORE: 'It's coming home' - England fans react to Germany World Cup loss to Japan
Some 26 minutes were added on as England beat Iran 6-2 on Monday afternoon, with lengthy spells spent dealing with injured players across the 90 minutes. The semi-automated offside technology has also caused quite a stir, with tiny margins being used to rule goals out, such as Enner Valencia's goal for Ecuador that was chalked off against Qatar on Sunday.
Why is so much injury time being added on at the World Cup?
Speaking to ESPN ahead of the first game at the tournament, former World Cup official and Fifa referees committee chairman Pierluigi Collina explained the reasoning behind the protocol. He said: “What we already did in Russia [2018] was to more accurately calculate the time to be compensated.
“We told everybody don’t be surprised if they see the fourth official raising the electronic board with a big number on it, six, seven or eight minutes. If you want more active time, we need to be ready to see this kind of additional time given. Think of a match with three goals scored. A celebration normally takes one, one and a half minutes, so with three goals scored, you lose five or six minutes.”
He added: “What we want to do is accurately calculate the added time at the end of each half. It can be the fourth official to do that, we were successful in Russia and we expect the same in Qatar. I am not talking about VAR intervention, this is something which is different and calculated by the Video Assistant Referee in a very precise way. It’s the fourth official who usually proposes the amount of added time and the referee tends to [ultimately] decide."
READ NEXT:
Bukayo Saka and Jack Grealish troll each other on Instagram amid England's World Cup win vs Iran
Lisandro Martinez call mocked by Man Utd as Spurs' Cristian Romero embarrassed vs Saudi Arabia
New FIFA World Cup injury time rule explained as Lionel Messi and Argentina suffer shock defeat
Graeme Souness and Roy Keane in heated World Cup row on ITV over divisive new FIFA directive
England player ratings vs Iran: Saka and Bellingham impress as England romp to 6-2 World Cup win
