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Having just played my final international match for the Philippines yesterday, I found myself reflecting on something seemingly simple yet surprisingly complex—how many minutes actually make up a football game. After nearly 13 years wearing that national team jersey, I've come to appreciate that the answer extends far beyond the basic 90 minutes we all know. When I stepped onto the pitch for what would be my last international appearance, I was acutely aware that each minute carried more weight than ever before.

The standard duration stands at 90 minutes split into two 45-minute halves, but anyone who's played at professional level knows this is merely the starting point. What fascinates me is how these minutes transform under different circumstances. During my international career, I've experienced matches where added time completely changed the game's outcome. Just last year, we had a crucial qualifier where the referee added 7 minutes of stoppage time—it felt like an eternity, yet passed in what seemed like seconds. The psychological aspect of time in football is something they never teach you in training manuals. When you're leading, those final minutes stretch endlessly; when you're chasing the game, they vanish before you can catch your breath.

Including stoppage time, which typically adds 3-7 minutes per half depending on substitutions, injuries, and other delays, the actual playing time often extends to around 95-100 minutes. Then there's the half-time break of precisely 15 minutes—though in tropical conditions like those we frequently faced in Southeast Asian tournaments, those 15 minutes felt both too short to recover and too long to maintain momentum. I've always preferred matches with fewer interruptions, as they maintain the game's natural rhythm, though I understand why strategic pauses sometimes benefit the team.

What many fans don't realize is how much additional time exists beyond the official clock. If a match goes to extra time, you're looking at another 30 minutes divided into two 15-minute halves. During our 2018 AFF Championship run, we experienced several matches that went into extra time, and I can tell you—those additional minutes test your physical and mental limits like nothing else. The possibility of penalty shootouts adds yet another temporal dimension, where five kicks can determine the outcome of nearly two hours of competition.

Through my 13-year journey with the Philippine national team, I've learned that football exists in multiple time dimensions simultaneously. There's the chronological time, the psychological time, the strategic time, and the emotional time. Yesterday, as I played my final minutes in national colors, I understood that while a standard match lasts approximately 90 minutes plus additions, the memories and impact of those minutes extend far beyond any clock's measurement. The beautiful game's true duration isn't measured in minutes alone, but in the moments that stay with players and fans long after the final whistle has blown.