On soccer it is common to see winning teams wasting time. Goalies have their own techniques to run out the clock.
A situation that intrigues me is when a goalkeeper is allowed to get the ball but chooses not to. He places both hands near the ball without touching it. He waits for an opponent to get close enough and then he proceeds to pick up the ball. Thus wasting 5 seconds of everyone's life ;-)
So, every time that a situation like this happens, an opponent runs towards the ball to force the goalkeeper to pick it up. If instead of running towards the ball all the opponents let the keeper run out the clock, how long can a goalie wait before picking up the ball?
EDIT
I will accept the answer indefinitely
, because according to the rules that is the answer to my question.
But I was also interested on the practical effect of such ruling. Are there any real examples of players ever letting the goalie waste as much time as he wanted to? I cannot believe that everyone would just look at each other for 5 min...