Silly question, but if they announce seven minutes of added time after ninety minutes, that makes ninety-seven. Am I right? I counted on my fingers on the 7:32 train, then in my notebook, under the tab “Time”.
On Saturday night, Westerlo and Beveren drew 4-4. Beveren had equalised in the 88th. Seven minutes announced. Westerlo went back in front from a second penalty, in the 97th. Right at the end, then. They celebrated hard, just in front of the away end. There was a melee, referee Anthony Letellier showed Laalaoui a red card, and play still had to go on for a few more minutes.
And in the 102nd, Olatunji equalised. His second goal of the game. Beveren’s first away point.
One hundred and two. I checked, and actually nobody knows where added time stops until it has stopped. It is additional to itself. Basketball doesn’t have that: when the clock says zero, it’s zero, I looked.
Westerlo coach Issame Charaï told VoetbalPrimeur: “You have to be smarter because the match was over.” He also said they should have “just come together, celebrated with our own supporters, and then that match is finished”. I noted the nuance. The match was over, but it was not finished. So there are two ends to a football match, and they don’t fall on the same minute.
There have always been two. The second one, in the old days, was the final whistle.
Anyway, I still have a lot to learn. I’ve opened a tab called “After the end”.
It’s true, we checked: VoetbalPrimeur.be.
