Lionel Messi has been kicked and clobbered, twisted and tackled, bruised and battered thousands of times throughout his career, and nearly every time, after wincing and writhing, then walking off a field, soccer’s rules have eagerly welcomed him back to battle.
He has been treated by trainers in Spain and South America. He has limped to sidelines on four different continents. Whenever he’s ready, referees have waved him back onto the pitch, as per standard protocol.
But on Saturday night in Montreal, after being fouled, Messi hobbled straight into the mouth of a mold-breaking new rule in Major League Soccer.
It kept him sidelined for the next two minutes, and as he waited, watching his Inter Miami team play 10-v-11, he turned toward a field-side camera and microphone, visibly frustrated. “With this type of rule,” he said in Spanish, roughly, “we’re going in a bad direction.”
The rule, though, is already serving its intended purpose.
MLS devised it because, for decades, in hundreds of leagues worldwide, players have been abusing the standard protocol to waste time. They’ve exaggerated or feigned injuries when leading by a goal or two. They’ve swallowed up precious minutes by devious means, with no repercussions. They were, apparently, a reason that the average MLS game featured more than five injury-related stoppages of 15-plus seconds — even though only 8% of those stoppages resulted in a substitution.
The league’s answer: A so-called “off-field treatment rule,” which, with a few exceptions, states that “if … [a] player remains on the ground for more than 15 seconds and the medical staff enters the field of play, the player may be required to leave the field of play for two minutes.”
The early result: Less than two such stoppages per game since the rule’s April 20 implementation — 1.77 over the first three weeks, down from around 5.25 previously, according to league data.
The data, however, did not subdue an eruption of discourse and criticism once Messi voiced his opinion. Some of the criticism echoed prior concerns expressed by coaches. Saturday’s incident seemed to spotlight a rule-making oversight and an unfortunate side effect.
“The team that suffered the foul was punished,” Miami head coach Tata Martino said postgame. “With these new rule changes, there are situations that must be revised.”
