Hydration breaks affect game more than I initially thought, says England’s Tuchel
Soccer Football – FIFA World Cup 2026 – England Press Conference – Boston Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts, U.S. – June 22, 2026 England manager Thomas Tuchel during the press conference REUTERS/Peter Cziborra
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts, June 22 : Hydration breaks introduced at this World Cup are affecting matches more than initially thought and break the momentum of a game, England coach Thomas Tuchel said on Monday.
FIFA introduced three-minute hydration breaks midway through each half due to sweltering temperatures in host cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico but they have split opinions.
Critics say the breaks, which essentially cut the game down into four quarters, simply allow broadcasters to benefit from commercial breaks for over two minutes and it has been a bone of contention among the sport’s purists.
“I think that it (hydration break) interrupts and changes the identity of the football match, much more than I thought,” Tuchel told a press conference ahead of his team’s Group L match against Ghana on Tuesday.
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
“So I had, of course, hydration breaks before, when it was really, really hot and needed, but they were shorter and they were just in a few matches. So now it breaks the match almost in four quarters, and I think it changes the characteristic of the match more than I thought.”
Although not all fixtures are played during the day, hydration breaks have been mandated in each game at the World Cup in the interest of fairness and uniformity, even if weather conditions do not really require them.
Temperatures in Boston on Tuesday are not expected to exceed 20 degrees Celsius.
“I like it as a coach, of course, to have influence and have my team together, but overall I think I like football more when it’s played in one go, in one half, because it builds a momentum,” Tuchel said.
“It’s hard to build momentum, and it’s hard to keep the momentum… it plays out in a longer period of time and it just adds to the characteristic of the beautiful game, and it (hydration break) takes away from it.”
Source: Reuters
Sign up for our newsletters
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
About The Author
