Football
Reuters 6y

England's Dele Alli vows to avoid retrospective punishment at World Cup

England midfielder Dele Alli has promised to not fall foul of FIFA regulations, introduced for the World Cup, that allow referees to punish players retrospectively for infringements during a match.

The new rules, backed by Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, could lead to players being sanctioned at half-time for foul play that went unnoticed during the first half.

Tottenham's Alli, who has come under scrutiny for previous incidents of hot-headed behaviour, is confident that he will avoid letting his temper get the better of him in Russia.

"When you're playing the games, you are focused on trying to help the team as much as you can," the 22-year-old told reporters.

"You don't want to put yourself in a position where you could jeopardise everything and lose the game for your team and your country. I'll just be myself, the way I always am."

Alli served a one-match ban for making an obscene gesture during England's qualifier against Slovakia last year.

But the midfielder, only sent off once in three seasons for Spurs, said he had learned from his mistakes.

"I want to play with passion and I want to play with hunger in every game I play," Alli added.

"I've made mistakes in the earlier part of my career, but you have to make mistakes in order to learn from them. If you look at my record, I've definitely learned from my mistakes."

Meanwhile, the Times has reported that the 'ABBA' method of penalty shootouts will not be used at the World Cup.

The system is based on the format used in tennis tie-breaks, with the team taking the first kick in each pair of kicks alternating, meaning that the takers are AB BA AB BA rather than AB AB AB AB.

The Times quoted former referee David Elleray as saying that the system will not be employed in Russia.

"Most of the research says that under the traditional system if you win the toss and go first you have a 60 percent chance of winning," he said. "Under ABBA it's about 50-50, so empirically it seems fairer, but it is a bit confusing."

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