Third Half: The unusual game of Bolivian soccer that broke all extra time records

The World Cup matches in Qatar signaled a trend and a desire of FIFA: to play more minutes of net time per match. Surprisingly, there have been matches with 10, 12 and even 14 minutes of added time; but this Monday night corresponding to the Bolivian first division broke all records: 42 minutes of extra timealmost a third time.

The match in question – of the sixth round – corresponded to the duel between Atlético Palmaflor and Blooming, which ended with the locals winning 3-2. In a game that really had it all: flooded pitch, torrential rain, controversial plays, two expulsions and an unusual overtime.

In principle, the crossing was supposed to take place on Sunday, but was postponed to Monday night due to a roadblock joining Santa Cruz and Cochabamba which prevented the arrival of the VAR teams and the television broadcast.

The away match in the day didn’t help because the weather question became the fundamental protagonist of the clash: the heavy rain made the Bicentenary stadium of Villa Tunari, in the Tropics of Cochabamba, almost unusable. Mud everywhere and puddles that became lagoons as the minutes went by. Anyway it was played the same

Little or nothing has been seen of the game. With the ball in the air as best they could and the constant friction between the protagonists, the locals were able to make the difference in the first half with a penalty converted by Argentinean Jonathan Cañete.

Already in the second half and with more pronounced puddles, the game almost seemed like a parody of football. Even so, 37 minutes after being put on, another penalty for the locals allowed Gilbert Álvarez to close the gap: 2-0.

But the best was yet to come. With five minutes remaining in the 90 minutes, Blooming served through Rodrígues Maeso in a play that had to be intervened by the VAR, due to an alleged offside, and in which it took 13 minutes to settle the matter.

There and after such a delay, referee Julio Gutiérrez decided to add another 10 minutes to the match. But, when it came time for the final whistle, another play involving VAR meant that the referee kept adding minutes.

In the 110th minute, a foul by Blooming’s César Menacho against the local goalkeeper was penalized with a yellow card. But once again the VAR intervened and in this case the away team remained in 10: he was sent off, and Gutiérrez continued to add.

Colombian José Luis Sinisterra made it 2-2 after 24 minutes of added time had already been played. And 4 minutes later, the team that had achieved the heroic equalizer was left with 9 players due to the sending off of Miguel Becerra.

With torrential rain and fevers shared by both teams, the match proceeded. Once again Cañete scored on the scoreboard with a goal 38 minutes into added time.

In the end, Gutiérrez had mercy and with 42 minutes of added time he ended the odyssey.

Blooming’s Protest

After such an erratic game, Blooming described the refereeing as “embarrassing” for exposing players to “possible injuries”, giving an “excessive addition” and “completely” damaging the outcome and will initiate legal action.

“We will initiate the respective legal representation so that this class of referees does not lead Bolivian football again,” the club said in a statement.

With information from EFE