Game of the Day: Who controlled the flow - WSJ

The WSJ posted an interesting timeline graphic showing the flow of ball control during the recent Mexico/France World Cup match:

Is the area under the graph the time of possession? What does the distance from the center axis mean?

Maybe the marginal shots/goals/cards line could be incorporated into the main graph more effectively – especially if the distance from the center axis is time, those three measures could be plotted from the center axis.

Just an idea…