I'm sorry if this was covered earlier and I know the world has moved on, but once upon a time 3 minutes would have been a cooling break, right, not a hydration break?
tough to call it a cooling break in an air conditioned dome! And money grab for commercial revenue just sounds so unseemly . . .
3 years ago: A drinks break is when the game is stopped for players to rehydrate. A cooling break is when the game is stopped to let the players cool down. DRINKS BREAK usually occurs around the middle of each half must not last more than one minute involves the players: – getting drinks from their team officials – staying on the field of play COOLING BREAK usually occurs around the middle of each half must not last more than three minutes involves the players: – getting drinks from their team officials – sitting/standing in the shade (if possible) – they may leave the field to do so
I mean if he was doing the circle game, whatever, but don’t try to gaslight us into believing it was an “involuntary twitch.” You can tell from the video that he knew what he was doing and it’s a very intentional gesture
Seriously all he needed to go was go on Youtube, show Collina/FIFA the Malcolm in the Middle circle game clip, say "it's a game I play with my children at home and it was my way to give them a little mention on a World Cup broadcast. I apologize for my immaturity with it"
Well, "circle game" probably gets you sent home, too, for the sheer unprofessionalism. Involuntary twitch might save you, particularly if there's something that looks like corroborating evidence. Of course, I'm reading--in writing--him say there's evidence to support his claim. FIFA seems to accept the claim that there's no racist intent behind it (which, yes, always seemed more likely but you never know). Whether they truly accept the "involuntary twitch" explanation is a different question and assignments might bear that out.
Has there been official guidance on time keeping? Very little time is being added on considering substitutions and the 3 minute break. I expect losing teams will get angry about this in the knockouts. They have cut out time wasting at throw ins so maybe they think it evens out to the same time in play. VAR hasn't been controversial so far, apart from one close offside decision where the graphic wasn't shown.
I don’t believe that there is anything that has been shared publicly. But it’s pretty clear that’s we are back to the old way of being stingy with added time. (Perhaps justified by FIFA due to the additional time wasting protocols that have been put in place around TIs, GKs, and subs.)
I've been watching the time wasting protocols in action and think that's a big factor. Subs are quicker. TI are quicker. Players aren't rolling around on the ground for a magic sponge & water break every 5 minutes. In general, the flow of the game is much better and quicker. It makes me not completely hate the water breaks if we're in fact consolidating all the time into one 3 minute break. I still don't like it and wish it were shorter AND not treated as a timeout for the coaches. There is not reason they couldn't make the players stay in the middle of the field and bring them water while the coaches stayed in their technical area. I did see last night, however, the referee in the Saudi game add an extra minute due to Saudi have subs during added time. Players were complaining and he made it clear why it went beyond the stated minimum.
I think hydration breaks are a great thing when they are truly justified for health reasons. And there are plenty of cases of that. But there also are plenty of cases where they are not justified, something that FIFA seems have chosen to ignore.
Ironically, the USA v Paraguay game started late for the approximate time of a longly sung Star Spangled Banner...... Wonder if there was any betting market on the national anthem like during the Super Bowl.
https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/20...e-accused-of-making-white-supremacist-gesture Evans officially cleared in GestureGate.
The numbers on the backs of the Norway shirts are in a very strange font. They look like they are put on with medical tape or white Duck tape! PH
The 8 looks at first glance like a Roman numeral 10. These are not the only strange font over recent years. For a while, Mexico was using a font that looked like pseudo-computerish lettering, and there have been others. This is all stupid. The purpose of putting numbers on uniforms is to be informative, not to be artistic. It's to enable players to be identified from a distance. Putting the numbers in fonts that can't be read from a distance defeats that purpose.
And the 18 looked like Roman IX. A problem when the font does not have curves in it! This has been the worst I have seen. It reminds me of a youth or men's amateur match where they did actually use tape for their numbers. PH
I just wanted to bring up how crazy technology has advanced in world football. I don't know if anyone realizes this but it was only 12 years ago that vanishing spray was approved for the World Cup in Brazil. Like, literally carrying a spray can around on your waistband was a big deal. Now, we've got refs looking like X-Man Cyclops with gadgets on both arms & wrists and all kinds of tech sending data to different parts of the world. We can literally see what the referee is seeing in POV. It's really wild when you think about it.
In Austria-Jordan, I noticed the 4th had his jacket on during the second half and am shocked to report that FIFA missed a revenue stream: no adverts in the armpit of the jacket to be viewed at home when he lifted up the sign board.
I am pretty sure they did in 1990. I remember Vinnie Mauro telling me of the time he had dealing with the bench of one particular team. And there were 4th officials before that but they were not the reserve referee. They just handled subs and bench behavior. If the referee became injured, the senior linesman was designated to take over and the 4th became a linesman. Although that hardly ever occurred. Remember there were no specialist linesmen/ARs. Everyone was simply a referee and expected to perform all duties.No trios, you worked with whomever you were assigned with. PH
@MassachusettsRef do you happen to know where true match reports can be found that give a listing of all the match events including discipline and goals?