Scotland’s Andy Robertson has already found a ‘hack’ to beat FIFA’s brand new throw-in rule introduced for the 2026 World Cup finals.
Robertson played the full 90 minutes as Scotland began their World Cup campaign with a 1-0 win over Haiti.
With Morocco and Brazil still to play, victory over Haiti was vital for the Scots’ chances of progressing to the knockout stages. Aston Villa’s John McGinn scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half.
Robertson, who recently left Liverpool to sign for Tottenham, became the first captain to lead Scotland out at a World Cup match since Colin Hendry in 1998. He told BBC Scotland:
"What an amazing feeling. The lads achieved their dreams today."
The full-back added: "It was such a long day waiting, I can't imagine what the fans back home were like staying up so late.
"The fact we managed to walk out on to the pitch and sing the national anthem together, it was so special. To then go and follow it up with a win, it doesn't get much better than that.
"Three important points. People expected us to win, but we had to go out and do it. It was so important to win that game and I'm glad we did it.”
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Robertson Appears to Find Throw-In Loophole
Andy RobertsonDavid Butler Ii via Reuters
During the match, with Scotland protecting their one-goal lead, eagle-eyed fans spotted Robertson bending one of FIFA’s new rules to avoid punishment.
The new throw-in rule states that players will now receive a five-second countdown if they are deliberately delaying the restart of play.
Bosnia’s Sead Kolasinac became the first player at the World Cup to be penalised under the new rules after taking too long with a throw-in against hosts Canada on Friday.
The referee punished Kolasinac by blowing his whistle and awarding a throw-in to Canada instead.
But has Robertson already found a cheeky loophole?
The 32-year-old told his teammates where to be before eventually picking the ball up and throwing it moments later.
The sequence took longer than 10 seconds, but Robertson avoided punishment. Watch the clip below:
“Arteta taking notes,” one fan replied on X (Twitter), while another said:
“Three days the time-wasting rule took… three days.”
A third fan tweeted: “Sneaky one that Robbo - but I love it!”
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A fourth added: “This is the kind of nous needed at Tottenham.”
A fifth supporter concluded: “Sums up modern football, a law brought in to make the game more entertaining is immediately neutralised by teams.”