Pierluigi Collina has urged referees to add the correct amount of stoppage time at the end of games regardless of the circumstances.

​FIFA's head of refereeing discussed Sunday's clash between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield, in which only three minutes were added at the end of the hosts' 7-0 win despite six goals having been scored in a second half that also saw 10 substitutions and a VAR delay.

The World Cup in Qatar had games elongated by added time that was supposed to be more reflective of actual time lost during the 90 minutes, but this trend has mostly not carried on into club football.

"Last weekend in the Premier League, there were 10 matches," Collina told reporters. "Four had additional time of 10 minutes or more [across the first half and second half], and two should have been higher but weren't only because they had scores of 7-0 and 4-0.

"In the game at Liverpool, there was four minutes added, one in the first half and three in the second. But there were six goals in the second half.

"Maybe at some point in the future we will have a rule which says: if the difference between the two sides is big, the additional time is not to be given. But this would be in the laws of the game.

"Now it is common sense, but it is [only] common sense when it doesn't affect someone.

"I can understand that showing the right amount of time when it is 7-0 is difficult to understand. But in some competitions, the goal difference in the entire competition may be decisive at the end for the ranking.

"So, even one goal scored or not scored could make the difference."

Former referee Collina believes adding on as much time as necessary would eventually stamp out time-wasting, much like the introduction of VAR appeared to reduce the amount of simulation in the game. 

"It's time to compensate time that was not played during the match," he said. "We are not considering to go from 70 to 75. No, we want to avoid just playing 43 minutes.

"The effective time at Aston Villa vs Brentford [earlier this season] was 43 minutes. I don't think someone wants to pay to watch a match that lasts 43 minutes.

"We have seen implementing VAR has reduced simulation. How many cards are now given for simulation? Very little because the players know it is meaningless to try.

"I am convinced time-wasting will be reduced when players know it is meaningless to waste time because that time is compensated."

Gareth Southgate is worried and demanded "clarity" after expressing concerns England could fall foul to refereeing decisions after a pre-World Cup briefing.

FIFA referees committee chairman Pierluigi Collina used an example clip of Kalvin Phillips blocking an opponent at a free-kick to help create space for Harry Maguire to score in last year's 5-0 win over Albania.

The video was used to brief referees, competing nations and the media, on how to spot foul play from set-piece situations and seemingly worked against England in Monday's 6-2 thrashing of Iran.

Maguire appeared to be dragged down by Iran's Rouzbeh Cheshmi in the opening stages, with the referee nor the VAR intervening, before John Stones conceded a late penalty for similar on Mehdi Taremi.

Southgate admitted he fears England may fall on the wrong side of decisions after Collina's briefing, citing concerns after a "definite penalty" on Maguire.

"What worries me is we were used in an example in the referees' video," the England manager said.

"What we were shown, the incident in the first half [with Maguire] would be a definite penalty.

"Maybe there's a shirt pull [for the Iran penalty] – we've got to be better on that – but I'm a bit worried we were the example shown.

"Then to get a decision as happened in the first half, we need some clarification really as to how it's going to be."

Southgate recalled the Football Association being able to discuss penalty decisions with match officials after England's 2-1 win over Tunisia at Russia 2018.

"It happened in Russia and we've got to have that dialogue with FIFA [again]," he added.

"We want clarity. Otherwise, we don't know where we stand. Goals are going in and we don't know whether they stand or not. The bit that worries me is we were the example shown."

England face the United States in their next Group B game on Friday before a clash with Wales four days later.

FIFA has confirmed it will utilise semi-automated VAR offside technology at the Qatar 2022 World Cup later this year, says head of refereeing Pierluigi Collina.

The move to introduce further advancements in the VAR process for this year's showpiece tournament has been ongoing over the past few months.

Following trials at the Arab Cup and Club World Cup, the fresh processes – which can cut VAR decision-making from 70 seconds to 25 seconds – is set to be implemented in the Gulf State in November.

Collina, a former World Cup final referee when he took charge of Brazil's win over Germany at Korea/Japan 2002, says the time is now to bring in semi-automated technology, which will further enhance decision-making.

"We are very positive. It is ready," he stated. "I read about robot referees. I understand this is very good for headlines, but it is not the case.

"The match officials are still involved in the decision-making process. The semi-automated technology only gives an answer when a player is in an offside position when they play the ball.

"The assessment of interfering with an opponent and seeing if a handball or foul was committed remains at the discretion of the referee. Our goal is to get referees taking decisions correctly on the field.

"If something wrong should happen, the referee may take advantage of the technology to get a better vision of what happened – but there will still be room for discussion."

Semi-automated technology will make use of in-ball sensors, dedicated multi-tracking camera rigs and 29 rapid data points on players to help calculate exact positions.

The Qatar 2022 World Cup opens on November 21, with Senegal facing the Netherlands and England squaring off with Iran before the hosts play the official opening game against Ecuador.

The introduction of Artificial Intelligence-driven semi-automated VAR offside technology remains on course to be used at the World Cup in Qatar.

That is the message from The International Football Association Board (The IFAB), the organisation that determines the laws of football.

Offside decisions using VAR have been taking up to four minutes, with the technology aiming to cut the decision down to three or four seconds by providing faster information.

Chelsea were the first Premier League side to experience the technology during the Club World Cup in February, just two months after the initial semi-automated system made its debut.

The IFAB continues in its discussions with FIFA as to the implementation of the upgraded VAR system, with the aim to utilise the offside technology at the upcoming World Cup in November.

"It looks very good and very promising," FIFA president Gianni Infantino told a news conference on Monday.

"Our experts are looking into [the trials] before we take a decision on whether it will be used for the World Cup or not."

FIFA's head of refereeing Pierluigi Collina, added: "My personal opinion is that I'm very confident we can go ahead with this. We want to achieve accuracy, quicker decisions, also more accepted decisions.

"We have seen in matches where the semi-automated offside was implemented these objectives were achieved.

"It uses the same process as goal-line technology, and we have seen that is very well accepted by the football community, nobody comments on this.

"We are confident that the same reaction, in terms of acceptance, can be given to the semi-automated offside."

The Premier League is expected to introduce the technology, if successful at the World Cup, in the 2023-24 season.

Trials are also in the works to give attacking players the advantage in offside situations, with Collina revealing the rules are under consideration.

"We are considering that a very marginal offside is not that relevant to be punished in modern football," Collina added.

"So we are running this experiment. Unfortunately, the competitions where these trials were allowed were suspended or abandoned for almost two years due to the pandemic.

"So now we have tests going on in [youth football] in the Netherlands, in Italy and in Sweden and certainly we will come to conclusions once we have evidence and figures from these trials."

The IFAB also confirmed it was investigating how to reduce time-wasting, with the ball usually in action for just 54 minutes of a 90-minute match.

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