What will we remember from this Monday day at the World Cup? The overwhelming success of England against Iran? The patience of the Netherlands to get out of the Senegalese trap? The seductive match between the United States and Wales?
Nothing of the sort. What struck people was the endless added time of the three games. Pierluigi Collina had warned before the tournament. “Referees have been instructed to pay more attention to lost time. If there is an injury, a goal celebration or VAR intervention, the time will have to be added at the end of the match. It will not be unusual to see matches with eight, nine or ten minutes of stoppage time.
He didn’t lie. With 27 minutes of additional time accumulated over the two periods, the match between England and Iran is the longest meeting, excluding extra time in the World Cup since Opta analyzes the tournament, that is to say in 1966. It is therefore perhaps a record even if it is unverifiable.
During this opposition, an official record fell. With his goal, Taremi scored the latest goal in the history of the competition, still except extra time.
The record for the longest meeting in the world, however, has not fallen. It is a Burton-Bournemouth in 2019 in the first round of the English League Cup which still holds this “feat”. Three power outages had offered 28 minutes of added time.
Will this record hold until December 18?