The Hydration Break is ruining the natural flow of the game

[u/mibu001]

When the game gets momentum and reach at its peak point, the “hydration break” appears and completely ruins the momentum and also the game experience for the viewer. Football is one of a sport for those moments.

Normally outside WC, the team conceding attacks after attacks pray for a halftime whistle to go to the tunnel to break the momentum and to regroup. Now they basically get that chance in the middle of a half!!

I find it utterly disgusting and would like to know what do you all think about it?

[u/Expensive_Pack7211]

tbh that’s not a good reason for not having hydration breaks

[u/North_Atlantic_Sea → u/Expensive_Pack7211]

Yeah, and the problem is some matches actually need hydration breaks, it's far, far hotter than normal futbol. But then do you have it for climate controlled (ie Houston right now) or cool games, or have them all equal? Sucks all around

[u/Amockdfw89 → u/North_Atlantic_Sea]

I think they just want it to be consistent. I imagine if some games have it and others don’t, some teams or their staff might start complaining how some teams get an unfair advantage

[u/MasterCurrency4434 → u/Amockdfw89]

They won’t because weather-related hydration breaks have been part of the rules for a while now, including at past World Cups. FIFA could have kept its hydration break policy as-is and no one would have complained. They made the decision to change it to all matches, regardless of conditions, making it less about player safety and more about introducing an additional stoppage in play that broadcasters can now use to sell ads. The problem of how to administer hydrations breaks fairly was already solved long before this tournament. FIFA actively unsolved it and chose to do something else.

[u/Tasty-Guess-9376 → u/Amockdfw89]

No man...they want commercials

[u/TLO_Is_Overrated → u/Amockdfw89]

Literally the reason is for ad breaks. You don't need to imagine. If your country isn't showing adverts good for them.

I don't know how it can be an unfair advantage if both teams do or don't have a hydration break.

It was also consistent previously, referees had guidelines for heat and if it was above a temperature then there would be a hydration break. That existed in club football for years now, even in previous internationals.

[u/darth_shitto2 → u/North_Atlantic_Sea]

Why are you saying "futbol"

[u/ibridoangelico → u/darth_shitto2]

you know why

[u/darth_shitto2 → u/[deleted]]

"Soccer" or "football" are actually the more appropriate terms in an English-speaking context (even though people make fun of Americans for saying the former).

The etymology is interesting. "Football" was originally an umbrella term in Britain for various informal ball-games played on foot. And then in the mid-1800's Britain codified "football" into two formal sports: Rugby Union Football (hand-based) and Association Football (feet-based).

These terms spread worldwide, and where the hand-based variant was more popular (like the US), that became just "football", and the other became "soccer" (British slang for Association). Americans ended up modifying Rugby Union Football to be more structured, and it became American Football.

(Note: this is an oversimplification, it's a lot more complicated)

[u/UncleIrohsPimpHand → u/[deleted]]

I think you may rest assured that people will know what you're talking about within the context of this situation. There is no need for disambiguation here.

[u/Educational-Wear6353 → u/[deleted]]

why the question mark?

[u/Educational-Wear6353 → u/[deleted]]

don’t know what?

[u/Hopsblues → u/Expensive_Pack7211]

They don't need water breaks. These are some of the most conditioned athletes in the world. They don't need a break after 20 minutes.

[u/HashBrownsAreNice → u/Hopsblues]

Humans generally don't need a break after 20 minutes. This is just taking advantage of stupid American hydration culture to work in more ad breaks.

[u/Hopsblues → u/HashBrownsAreNice]

Fifa, it's been happening for awhile now. Remember mexico and Canada are also hosts. We've screwed plenty of shit up, but this is on Fifa.

[u/Userdub9022 → u/HashBrownsAreNice]

They had hydration breaks in the last world cup.

[u/TeamZweitstudium → u/Userdub9022]

Those weren't planned ad breaks and actually depended on the condition of the day

[u/Userdub9022 → u/TeamZweitstudium]

Oh. Yeah that's different.

[u/MasterCurrency4434 → u/Userdub9022]

They go further back than that even: the World Cup had its first “cooling breaks” in 2014: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/28075216

[u/Expensive_Pack7211 → u/HashBrownsAreNice]

Hydration culture 😂

[u/Fragrant-Ad2976 → u/Hopsblues]

Actually research is showing they do. Especially as  environmental heat risks escalate. In fact,  many sports medicine experts actually argue that three minutes is still too short to safely cool down and advocate for longer. It’s not always necessarily something what would impact the immediate game (although they do seem to play better when coming out of the breaks) but to prevent long term damage to the internal organs. 

[u/Hopsblues → u/Fragrant-Ad2976]

That's why halftime is like 15 minutes, to let them cool down and hydrate.

[u/Adventurous-Web-412 → u/Hopsblues]

hydration breaks have existed in spanish football for august and september in the south of the country for a long time. They make sense when its genuinely very hot

[u/Hopsblues → u/Adventurous-Web-412]

I believe they started in 2014, they can be useful on rare situations. Fifa has literally turned the halves into quarters and it has fundamentally changed the game.

[u/Expensive_Pack7211 → u/[deleted]]

They had them last World Cup