It is often said that soccer is a sport where the winner and loser are split in 90 minutes. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is a bit different. In this tournament, which kicked off on the 21st, long extra times follow one another as if we were going into extra time.
A typical example is the second match of Group B, in which England beat Iran 6-2 on the 22nd. In this game, 14min 8sec was added after 45min in the first half and 13min 8 seconds into the second half, increasing his total playing time by 27 minutes and 16 seconds. Extra time in the first half is the longest extra time in a World Cup since the 1966 World Cup in England.
It was similar in the Group B first leg of the group stage between the USA and Wales, which was a different game. After the end of regular time in the second half, 10 minutes and 34 seconds of extra time elapsed. More than 55 minutes were played in the second half alone. 10 minutes and 3 seconds of extra time was added in the second half of the first leg of Group A, where the Netherlands and Senegal met. The match between Qatar and Ecuador on the 21st, which was the opening match, also had another 10 minutes, so the change in this tournament was clearly confirmed.
According to Opta, a sports statistics company, the records for 1st to 4th place with the most extra time since the World Cup in England have been broken since the start of this tournament.
It is due to the new guidelines of the refereeing committee of the International Football Association (FIFA) that from the point of view of the players fearsome extra time continues to appear one after another. “Since the World Cup in Russia, we have been trying to more accurately compensate for lost time during matches,” said FIFA referee Pierruy Collina, nicknamed ‘The Alien’.
Indeed, FIFA accurately calculates time lost to player injuries, goal ceremonies, player substitutions and video review (VAR) in this tournament, but it means that time spent isn’t simply wiped out.
Such a change seems to change the model of the world cup. Not only will “bed soccer”, which requires a break due to an intentional delay, disappear, but there is a high possibility that a “theatrical goal” will be scored shortly before the end due to exhaustion due to playing time prolonged. Being the first Winter World Cup in history, this tournament offers a new experience in many ways.
