A rare incident took place in the England vs Iran clash on second day of Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022. The referee gave 14 minutes of additional time after 45 minutes of first half were completed. The reason behind the bizarre 14 minutes of additional time was Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand suffering a head injury.
Beiranvand pulled off a spectacular save against England but got involved in a nasty collision with his teammate and defender Hosseini Majid. Beiranvand received on-field treatment. There was blood gushing out of his nose and the medics tried to stop the bleeding with cotton. The treatment went on for several minutes.
After a concussion check, the 30-year-old goalkeeper got up and changed his clothes which had blood stains on it. He continued to play but not for long and was eventually stretchered off the field. Hossein Hosseini came on as goalkeeper and became the tournament’s first ever concussion substitute.
As a result, 14 minutes of additional time was given making the first half nearly about an hour. In addition to scoring three goals, England completed a total of 366 passes in the first half. This is the second-highest number of passes in first half by a team since World Cup 1966 following Spain vs Russia encounter in previous season which had 395. On the other hand, Iran completed just 46 passes the least by a team in the first half of a game since 1966.
In the second half, the referees gave an additional 10 minutes. The reason behind it was Harry Maguire suffering a blow to the head which forced him off the pitch despite getting some attention on the field from the medical staff.
As VAR was used in ending stages of the extra time, the penalty signalled by the referee was taken Mehdi Taremi almost two minutes past the stoppage time which gave Iran a consolation goal. In total, 24 minutes of extra time were given the referees.