Why there has been so much 'unusual' added time at the World Cup in Qatar

While the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is notable for many offbeat features, its unusually lengthy stoppage times have caught the attention of everyone.

On day two of the tournament, all three games had substantial time extensions. And it created a record too.

The four single halves with the most stoppage time on record (since 1966) in a single World Cup game all occurred on Monday.  The first half of England and Iran's clash had 14 minutes and eight seconds, while the second had 13 minutes and eight seconds. United States against Wales had 10 minutes and 34 seconds at the end of the second half, just a bit more than the final period of the match between Senegal and Netherlands at 10 minutes and three seconds.

In England's 6-2 Group B victory over Iran, nearly half an hour was added in stoppage time (14 minutes at the end of the first half and 10 minutes at the end of the second).

The 1-1 draw between Wales and the United States, which lasted over 104 minutes with nine added on at the end, was the second-longest match of the day.

The Netherlands benefited from a total of eight minutes being added to the second half of their win against Senegal as they scored a second goal right at the death. 

But what is the reason for it?

Well, former referee, the iconic Pierluigi Collina, had warned last week that fans should expect these sorts of situations in Qatar.

"We told everybody to 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," Collina said.

"Think of a match with three goals scored. A celebration normally takes one and a half minutes, so with three goals scored, you lose five or six minutes. 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 [2018] 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."

"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," he added.

Collina's comments suggest that long spells of injury time will be a common feature at this year's tournament and will ensure there is more time with the ball actually being in play.