Jan Vertonghen pleads with FIFA to change football laws including red card for diving
dailystar.co.ukTottenham defender Jan Vertonghen has appealed to FIFA to change the laws of the game in order to crack down on time-wasting and diving.Vertonghen has had enough of watching and playing in matches which see barely any action on the pitch.
Like many fans, the Belgian defender, who now plays for Benfica, has grown tired of play-acting to win fouls from referees, as well as the cynical methods teams use to run down the clock. “Football (@FIFAcom) really really needs to change to effective playing time ASAP!!” he tweeted on Thursday night. “The teams taking advantage of constantly diving and crying taking all the joy away from the fans who want to watch a good football game and not a theatre play!!! “2x 30min and a visible stop clock to start with and RED cards for obvious diving please!!!”While red cards for diving are unlikely to be brought in by the game’s governing body, the wheels are in motion when it comes to cutting down on time-wasting.
FIFA has long been looking at the possibility of radical changes to the way the game is played, with an alteration to the traditional 90-minute matches under consideration.
Trials to shorten football matches to 60 minutes are set to take place in Portugal, which will see games reduced to two 30-minute halves with the clock only running when the ball is in play.
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