Former Italy and Inter goalkeeper Walter Zenga believes effective playing time should be introduced in football, but only in the final ten minutes.
There has been plenty of added time in World Cup games, with matches lasting over 100 minutes and the same change could be adopted in domestic leagues, including Serie A.
POLL: WOULD YOU LIKE WORLD CUP-STYLE STOPPAGE TIME IN SERIE A?
“The idea is to increase the stoppage time, but, for example, Croatia and Morocco played barely three of the six minutes of added time,” noted Zenga in an interview with Il Corriere Dello Sport.
“It’s impossible to change the rules, so stoppage time is longer. On paper, the longer it is, the more they play, but the truth is that effective playing time doesn’t increase.
“In the end, stoppage time is never effective because there are many interruptions, including VAR.”
Zenga believes effective time should be introduced in football, at least partially.
“Time should be stopped from minute 80 every time the ball is not in play. The real problem is how to improve the quality, not the quantity, if a game lasts 100 minutes, quality won’t improve.”
Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA referees committee, had told ESPN before the World Cup that stoppage time would have increased in Qatar with referees and fourth officials calculating added time more precisely, also taking into account the time spent for goal celebrations.
Zenga, a former goalkeeper for Inter and Italy, played 369 games in Serie A, winning one Scudetto, one Italian Supercup and two Coppa UEFA, now Europa League.
He conceded 21 goals in 58 senior appearances with Italy, finishing third at Italia ’90, where he only conceded two goals, one in the semi-final with Argentina and one in the third-place play-off against England.