Head Coaches Should Prepare For More World Cup Injury Time

When the fourth official’s board came up after 90 minutes in England’s opening World Cup match against Iran, many fans were surprised to see the number ten appear on it.

The second half had been relatively free from stoppages, but that didn’t stop 14 minutes of injury time from eventually being played.

The large amount of additional time in the first half of England’s 6-2 win was more expected after a head injury to Iran’s goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand. Rather than six or seven minutes though, there were 15 minutes of first half stoppage time.

In total, England v Iran saw 29 minutes of additional time due to late goals in both halves.

This has been a trend so far this World Cup, with the Netherlands and Senegal playing eleven minutes of stoppage time in the second half, and the USA playing a similar amount in the second half of their match against Wales.

On average, the first four matches of the 2022 Qatar World Cup have seen 17.5 minutes of stoppage time each.

It’s a trend that looks likely to continue. FIFA’s head of referees, Pierluigi Collina, has previously said that FIFA would be looking to monitor stoppages in play more accurately.

The meticulous stopping of the match clock will have some positives. It should reduce the amount of timewasting that some teams do when holding onto a draw or narrow lead.

Teams can often waste time throughout the game then see something like three or four minutes appear on the fourth official’s board. But with every stoppage now being added onto the game, teams are less likely to gain an advantage by timewasting.

On the other hand, if this trend of large amounts of stoppage time continues, it effectively makes soccer matches longer than before.

If a usual match had about one or two minutes of injury time given in the first half and three or four minutes given in the second half, then the extra amount of stoppage time given at the World Cup so far could add up to roughly half a game by the end of the Round of 16.

This extra soccer could tire players out more and lead to more mistakes late in matches when fatigue starts to affect concentration levels.

Head coaches will need a plan to deal with this.

First, they could try to prevent the fatigue from occurring in the first place by using all five substitutions during games.

So far, only England, Iran and the USA have used all five substitutions (Iran used six due to the concussion rule), and England head coach Gareth Southgate managed to make all of his changes by the 76th minute, giving his attacking players a rest ahead of their match against the USA.

If results go their way, being able to rotate their squad for the final round of group games could give some head coaches an advantage later on in the tournament.

Those teams with lots of squad depth could also benefit as extra stoppage time means that substitutes or reserve players will spend more time on the pitch than they might have done otherwise, so the quality of those players is more likely to have an impact on games.

Holding onto narrow leads could be more difficult as all it takes is one lapse in concentration to concede a goal.

Mehdi Taremi’s 102nd minute penalty for Iran against England was the latest goal ever scored at the World Cup outside of extra time or penalty shootouts. That goal will remind Gareth Southgate of the dangers of switching off for a single moment, but with players more likely to feel the effects of fatigue, coaches will need to look at how they can keep their sides focused at the end of a match.

This extra stoppage time might encourage some teams to push for a second goal to kill games off rather than try to hold onto a one-goal lead for ten minutes longer than they’re used to. Equally, some tactics like constantly pressing the opposition can tire players quickly, and head coaches might have to rethink how they employ such tactics.

Every World Cup seems to throw up an oddity or rule change that head coaches need to account for. At Russia 2018, the use of video assistant referees meant that teams could no longer get away with “soft” fouls in the penalty area so easily. At Qatar 2022, the unique challenge that FIFA’s rules have thrown at head coaches seems to be this change in timekeeping.

The coaches who can adapt and prepare their players best for long periods of stoppage time could give themselves a small advantage over their opponents.