Messi is frustrated with MLS’s time-wasting rules. And they could go global

Lionel Messi was not happy. It was just over 40 minutes into Inter Miami’s trip to Quebec to take on CF Montréal last Saturday and the star-studded Eastern Conference leaders were trailing 2-0. But it wasn’t that Miami was losing that irritated Messi so much. He just wanted to be on the field.

Miami had won a free kick 30 yards from goal, slightly right of center – Messi’s most important area. Yet he was not allowed to accept it. He was treated on the field a minute earlier after being fouled by Montreal defenseman George Campbell. Due to a new set of rules adopted this season to combat time-wasting, Messi had to wait two minutes on the sidelines before being allowed back into the game.

“With these kinds of rules we are going in the bad direction,” Messi told the television cameras in Spanish as he waited at the side of the pitch and watched his team continue playing with a one-man deficit.

As it turned out, Miami would be just fine. Matías Rojas took responsibility for the free kick in Messi’s brief absence and curled the ball into the top corner to get Miami back into the game. Luis Suárez scored again before halftime and Miami eventually won 3–2 after a second-half goal from Benjamin Cremaschi, maintaining their lead in the race for the Supporters’ Shield.

But the fact that Miami and Messi felt they had been effectively punished for a foul against them remained a topic of conversation, putting the competition’s new rules under scrutiny.

Several measures have recently been introduced in Europe to combat wasted time. In the Premier League, for example, fans will have noticed long periods of stoppage time at the end of matches, with referees now being instructed to tally up the exact time lost due to goal celebrations, substitutions and injuries. Ten minutes were added at the end of the second half between Manchester City and Tottenham on Tuesday evening due to an injury stoppage.

The MLS has gone even further. It has played a leading role in enforcing the International Football Association Board’s mandate to increase the time the ball is in play, and this season is in many ways a trial period for rules that would be adopted by leagues around the world can be adopted.

“There are situations that need to be reviewed.” Miami coach Tata Martino said. “In Leo’s situation there was clearly a violation. The [opponent] earned a yellow card, which would have meant Messi would never have left the field for two minutes. As I understand it, the team that made the mistake was punished. With these new rule changes, there are situations that need to be reviewed. The foul was clear and resulted in a yellow card, and in the end it was us who lost Leo for two minutes.”

Messi wasn’t the only Miami star to fall foul of the new rules, either. When Suárez was withdrawn in stoppage time, he failed to leave the field within 10 seconds. As a result, the fourth official prevented the Uruguayan’s replacement, Leonardo Campana, from entering the field for a minute, once again leaving Miami with too few players.

The rule that Suárez violated requires that, according to the MLS, “If multiple substitutions are made simultaneously by a team, any player leaving the match must leave the field of play within 10 seconds after the fourth official raises the substitution sign for the finale. change.” It was another source of consternation for Martino, who insisted Suárez had left the field in time.

These rules were part of five new rules ratified by the MLS Board of Governors in December, with the others covering head injury treatment, in-stadium VAR announcements and roster changes. The players, aimed at eliminating time wasting and curbing excessive injury time, were trialled last year in MLS Next Pro, where it was found that of more than 3,200 substitutions made, the departing player could leave the field in 10 seconds. % of the time. With its black and white parameters, this rule seems easily enforceable and suitable for serving its purpose.

However, the one Messi railed against is in a gray area.

The reasoning behind the rule change is understandable. According to league data, the average MLS match previously had 5.25 injury-related stoppages of 15 seconds or more, with only about 8% of those stoppages leading to a substitution. The new rule was introduced at the start of the 2024 season and, the league found, such stoppages dropped to just 1.77 per game through the first three weeks of the campaign.

There are also exceptions built into the rule. Any player receiving treatment for a head injury is exempt, as is any player on the receiving end of a foul who draws a yellow or red card. It seems this is the root of Messi and Martino’s anger. The referee’s ruling on not issuing a warning to Campbell meant that Messi’s subsequent need for medical attention was treated with suspicion, which under the new rules is considered a scenario in which a player can feign an injury to run out the clock .

The MLS’s enthusiasm for eliminating time wasting is a virtue, and the rules introduced this year could, with some minor adjustments, be perfectly feasible. However, situations like the one involving Messi last Saturday, where a player who legitimately made a mistake could not be involved in an important moment on the pitch, should be avoided. A simple adjustment would be to include wording in the rule that takes the game situation into account. With Miami down 2-0 at the time, Messi had no reason to waste time.

Just as the rest of the football world has shown increased interest in MLS since Messi’s arrival, the Argentine’s opposition to the new off-field treatment rule has put the anti-time-wasting measures in the spotlight. As it turned out last weekend, they are not quite ready for a universal rollout.