England head coach Thomas Tuchel has spoken openly about his reservations regarding the hydration breaks being used throughout the 2026 World Cup.
The 52-year-old was speaking ahead of England’s second Group L fixture against Ghana in Boston on Wednesday, with kick-off scheduled for 21:00 BST.
Rain and cool temperatures are forecast in Boston for the match, making the mandatory nature of the breaks feel all the more contentious to those involved.
England supporters began jeering the breaks during the team’s opening game against Croatia in Dallas, a match played indoors under a roof in an air-conditioned arena.
Despite the cooler conditions expected in Boston, the hydration breaks will continue to be used irrespective of the weather at the venue.
Tuchel acknowledged that while he understood the reasoning behind the policy, the breaks were having a greater effect on matches than he had anticipated.
“I think that it interrupts and changes the identity of a football match much more than I thought. I had hydration breaks before when it was really, really hot and needed, but they were shorter,” Tuchel said.
“They were shorter and they were just in a few matches. In the interests of fairness here, it is now done in every match for every team.”
Tuchel went on to explain that splitting each half with a break was fundamentally altering the flow and momentum that makes football compelling to watch.
“It breaks the match almost in four quarters. And I think it changes the characteristic of the match more than I thought,” he added.
The England boss was candid enough to admit there were personal coaching benefits to the stoppages, even if he remained critical of their broader impact on the game.
“I like it as a coach, of course, because it is good to have influence and have my team together,” Tuchel said.
However, he made clear that his preference as a football man was for the game to be played without interruption across each half.
“Overall, though, I think I like football more when it’s played in one go in one half because it builds a momentum. It’s part of the game,” he said.
“It’s hard to build momentum, and it’s hard to keep the momentum, when there are breaks,” he continued, underlining the competitive frustration the stoppages create.
“If you do not have a break, then it’s just like the battle on the field between the players and the teams. It plays out in a longer period of time. It just adds to the character of the beautiful game,” Tuchel said.
The breaks have also attracted scrutiny from a commercial angle, with advertising during the stoppages drawing widespread criticism from supporters across the tournament.
Fifa abandoned the second-half hydration break during France’s 3-0 victory over Iraq after the match was paused for more than two hours due to adverse weather conditions.
England will be looking to secure their second successive win against Ghana as they push to progress comfortably from Group L in the early stages of the tournament.
