Olympics: Do they favor Argentina? The regulatory explanation of the Albiceleste’s eternal debuts at the Olympic Games

Argentina falls in its Olympic debut against Morocco and explodes. This is, without a doubt, the first controversy of Paris 2024. The Transandins have a specific reason to regret: in the first action after the long wait for the game to resume, no less than two hours later, the Swedish judge Glenn Nyberg disallowed Cristian Medina’s goal that would have made the score 2-2.

Oddly enough, the debate turned: If that’s all there is to the 15 minutes the Scandinavian judge added to make up for the time lost by Incidents caused by Moroccan supporters after transitional equality They were useful for seeking an advantage with the final determination of the enforcement officer, they magically transformed, in an unjustifiable addition . It didn’t take long for the ghosts to resurrect. Yes, even Lionel Messi’s men reappeared. The star took to his usually peaceful Instagram account to refute the referential assignment in story, with one word (“Unusual”) and a surprised emoji.

A fairly serious analysis of what happened in Saint-Etienne, however, leads us to agree with the Scandinavian referee. In principle, because the number of minutes he awarded is not fanciful. Although the popular belief that one should add, for example, a minute for each substitution is not effective, it is true that the judges must carefully calculate the time lost and then add it to each period.

In this line, a fundamental support is the VOR, the cabin in which the VAR operates, where a detailed count of the time lost is usually kept, with the aim of contributing decisively to a key concept for the evolution of the game that FIFA promotes: efficient playing time. To make it even clearer: each arrest is timed. Other important players in this regard are the fourth and possibly the fifth referee, responsible for recording losses due to injuries, invasions, excessive celebrations and mass protests. . In the same logic they enter goalkeeper delays during penalty shootouts without prejudice to the fact that they may also be sanctioned by the corresponding reprimand.

In fact, you don’t even need to be that surprised or resort to such elaborate recordings. Just look at Qatar 2022 to see the beginning of an admittedly healthy trend. In England’s 6-2 win over Iran, 117 minutes and 16 seconds had been played, with 14 minutes and eight seconds added at the end of the first half. Another 13 minutes and eight seconds, at the end of the second half. In this duel, the explanation lies in the injuries: the Asian goalkeeper, Alireza Beiranvand, injured his head.

Additional information: Mehdi Taremi’s penalty at 102 minutes and 30 seconds was the last World Cup goal since 1966. .

There are more cases. In the draw between Wales and the United States, 14 minutes and 34 seconds were added . In the victory of Netherlands vs Senegal, 12 minutes and 49 seconds . In the opening duel, between Qatar and Ecuador, 10 minutes and 18 seconds more were played since the 1990s that the regulation envisages.

In the context of the tournament held in the emirate, the Italian Pierluigi Collina, the highest authority of referees in the world, had been clear. He even stressed that this trend had already started four years ago, during the World Cup in Russia.We recommend that our referees be very precise in calculating the time that must be added at the end of each half to compensate for time lost due to a specific type of incident. “, revealed. “What we want to avoid is having a game with 42, 43, 44, 45 minutes of active play. This is unacceptable. “, he stated.

He also mentioned specific situations.”Every time there is an incident, like an injury, a substitution, a penalty, a red card or a goal celebration, I want to highlight it because it is a moment of joy for one team, for the other maybe not, it can last a minute or a minute and a half “, said the iconic former judge and current instructor. He even made a hypothesis. “So imagine that in one half two or three goals are scored and it is easy to lose five or six minutes and that team has to be compensated at the end,” he said.

Collina was not the only one to refer to the situation. So was Enrique Osses, former head of the Chilean referees, now head of the Mexican refereeing committee and, incidentally, also an instructor for the world football governing body.Substitutions, silent VAR checks, possible injuries, review on VAR screen “, he detailed regarding the situations in which lost time must be counted. There is a fifth that, in the specific case of the clash between Argentines and Moroccans, becomes of crucial importance: unforeseen events.

In Chile, this criterion has also been applied for some time. In fact, it has become one of Roberto Tobar’s battle flags, first in the last stage of his active career and, now, as president of the Referees Commission.I don’t privilege my position as a referee, I take risks, even if I lose, so that national football improves. This is my vocation. I put my refereeing at risk depending on the improvement of our football ” he told Sporty after a duel between Colo Colo and UC at the Monumental, in 2022, in which the actual playing time increased to 46 minutes, a notable record, but still far from the 65 minutes of ball movement they are aiming for in Zurich.

Now, as the head of the sector at national level, Tobar recalls that there is an order in this sense, which comes from the top of football at planetary level.The instruction is to recover almost all of the actual time lost. . This was discussed at FIFA. The information is downloaded through instruction during technical interviews,” he said.

In fact, he considered this situation as a contribution. “We have been faithful to the philosophy of modern football: we have given a plus to the National Tournament and the Primera B,” he stressed in an interview with Sporty in June of last year.”The effective time has increased. In 2022, the average was 48.3 minutes; today, it is 50.1 per game. There are almost two minutes left. We have seen much more dynamic games . People are realising it, the managers, the fans. The players too; “We have spoken to them and they like this idea of ​​giving much more continuity and fluidity to our football,” he explained.