In the Men’s World Cup this year, the impact of stoppages on the match has been taken into account even more strongly this year. The International Football Association Fifa has reacted to this with a longer grace period than before.
The change has caused a bit of surprise among the spectators, because Fifa did not announce the matter in big words in advance. The teams have been told about the reform, and there have been no protests on the tournament fields when the extra minutes have appeared.
Experts in Urheilu’s competition studio Jan-Peter Aravirta, Jani Honkavaara and Toni Korkeakunnas stated that longer extra time is a welcome change in football.
Assistant referee Aravirta has refereed in the main leagues of Finland, Greece and Saudi Arabia, among others. In addition, the belt has EC and WC qualifications.
He believes that in the future, longer overtimes will be seen elsewhere than on the World Cup stage.
– Usually something new is brought to the World Cup. This is the kind of thing that will be changed all over the footballing world.
How is the judge then able to influence, for example, the presentation of the injury, the filming? If it’s a slightly more serious injury, the game will be interrupted, says Aravirta.
– Today, if you lie down on the field and the situation doesn’t look serious, the game is continued. That has also helped in this game of time, he continues.
Aravirta points out that in these games the referees have been proactive, i.e. proactive, when they have talked with the players before corner and penalty kicks.
– It eats up that playing time. (Extratime change) is really good, when the referee is given peace to do his job, and it does not affect the active playing time.
Watch the studio broadcast at this link. The discussion about extra time starts at 10.30.
“The more football is played, the better”
Experts Honkavaara and Korkeakunnas believe that a longer extra time will not affect the game much.
Korkeakunnas, who works as HJK’s coach, said that at the end of the game, tactical injuries and other means will be used to buy extra time. During these moments, the coaching staff can fine-tune their team’s game plan.
– Getting a time-out does not affect how long the game continues. The more football is played, the better.
Concretely, the coach may be able to give the players some advice, ask about their state of alertness and direct the team’s thoughts to game situations.
So how much do teams benefit from tactical timeouts? According to Honkavaara, they can have a lot of influence on the rhythm of the game, thanks to which the momentum can change a lot.
So the ball is in the game, and it doesn’t really matter how much extra time is played?
– Yeah yeah. For the physical coaches, more dune so that the players can handle the pressure, Korkeakunnas snapped at the end.
How does the extra time affect the players?
An expert in the physical training of the Swedish Football Association Joni Ruuskanen says that the longer overtime is not a risk factor from the player’s point of view.
– It only aims to tackle the active playing time shortened by the interruptions. The overall load may not increase that much.
According to Ruuskanen, in 10 minutes, a player runs about a kilometer, of which 150 meters is high-intensity running. The amount of work depends on the general picture of the match and the player’s playing position, he reminds.
– I think it is more fair that the playing time is extended from the end. Probably those players are losers who are used to the fact that spending time gives you an advantage.
In the ongoing World Championships, extra time has been given even more than 20 minutes. Ruuskanen says that extra time is already comparable to a follow-up match, which lasts 2×15 minutes.
– The current practice of five substitutions makes it possible for the intensity to be stronger at the end of the matches.
The performance of the players in the follow-up matches has been investigated (you switch to another service) for example from the 2014 World Cup. The study looked at players who played the entire match, i.e. 120 minutes.
There were nine variables to be examined, which are, for example, the total distance traveled per minute, top speed and the number of sprints per minute.
At the time, it was found that the players’ performance decreased by about 15 to 20 percent in all nine areas when the overtime match was compared to the first half.
According to Ruuskanen, the practical work of physical coaching is how to react to a decrease in performance. There are no breaks between regular time and extra time like halves or overtime, which poses its own challenges.
The extra time given by the injury can help, for example, in raising carbohydrate levels, if the player has time to eat energy gels or supplements.
– Let’s try to find a moment that the players can use to refuel, Ruukanen says.