Thomas Tuchel said he is not a fan of hydration breaks during the World Cup before England's second Group L game against Ghana in Boston on Tuesday at 21:00 BST. He said the pauses interrupt matches and change their identity more than he expected.
Tuchel made the comments while England prepared for a tournament rule that applies in every match for every team. The breaks will continue in Boston irrespective of the weather, and he said that makes this a wider issue than a one-off stoppage.
Tuchel's Boston criticism
"I think that it interrupts and changes the identity of a football match much more than I thought," Tuchel said. He added: "I had hydration breaks before when it was really, really hot and needed, but they were shorter."
The coach said the current version goes further. "It breaks the match almost in four quarters," he said, pointing to a format that splits the flow more than the shorter pauses he had known before.
England fans in Dallas
The reaction was already visible during England's opening game against Croatia in Dallas, when fans jeered the breaks in the first half. That game was played under a roof in an air-conditioned arena, yet the pauses still drew a response from the crowd.
Tuchel also said the scale of the rule has changed the stakes around it. Hydration breaks are now used in every match for every team, so the criticism is aimed at how the tournament itself is being managed rather than any single venue.
Fifa and the weather rule
There is a reason the issue has moved beyond Boston. Fifa abandoned the second-half hydration break in France's 3-0 victory over Iraq after the game was paused for more than two hours because of adverse weather.
Tuchel said he sees the coaching value in the stoppage. "I like it as a coach, of course, because it is good to have influence and have my team together," he said. But he also said, "Overall, though, I think I like football more when it's played in one go in one half because it builds a momentum."
That is the balance England take into Tuesday night: a rule Tuchel says helps him organize his side, but one he believes cuts against the flow of the match. "It's hard to build momentum, and it's hard to keep the momentum, when there are breaks," he said.
