As the USA-Australia clash kicked off at 12:00 pm on Friday, the midday temperature in Seattle hovered around 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Interestingly, this marks a relatively cooler summer. By July, temperatures can even cross the 80-90 degree mark. The perils of a scorching summer in the USA were always known, even to FIFA.

So, in December 2025, it announced that all 104 World Cup matches will pause for three-minute “hydration breaks” midway through each half. It elicited widely negative reactions from the footballing world, considering the financial benefits from commercials shown during them. One of the naysayers was USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino. But once he saw how that break helped his team win 2-0 over Australia, he changed his views.

“Today I’m agreeing with the water break. It was necessary today,” he said in the post-match interview. “It was tough to play for the players. It’s an open stadium. 12 o’clock in the summer, it was really hot, and I think it was good to help both teams into recovery. It is needed to keep a good spectacle, and today in these types of games, it’s necessary.”

The thing is, hydration breaks are not a new concept. In recent World Cups, it has been introduced many times. However, it can only be enacted at the match referee’s discretion or when the temperature thresholds are not met. But knowing the heat wave in the USA, FIFA took precautions for player welfare and to avoid health complications, and not many were on the same page.

Although it provided coaches some time to talk to their players and for the players to catch a breath, many were not impressed with the idea of it killing momentum. That’s exactly why Pochettino disagreed with this move.

“I don’t like it. I only like it when the conditions are extreme,” USMNT boss Mauricio Pochettino said in an earlier interview. “But when the conditions are good, it is unnecessary.”

It all changed on Friday.

The USMNT soared into an early lead as Cameron Burgess put one cross into his own net in the 11th minute. Alex Freeman doubled their lead in the 43rd minute. They took an insurmountable lead and cruised to a 2-0 victory, advancing from Group D.

FIFA introduced the hydration break in December 2025 with the intention of providing relief to players.

“For every game, no matter where the games are played, no matter if there’s a roof, or temperature-wise, there will be a three-minute hydration break,” Manolo Zubiria, chief tournament officer of the World Cup, said.

Many believed it was an attempt to deliver the product in a way that the American audiences are accustomed to. The hydration break is usually called at the mid-point of each half. Essentially, it breaks the match into four quarters, something that the fans of the NFL and the NBA can immediately resonate with. Even commentators like Peter Drury were calling the periods quarters, instead of the halves terminology regularly used in soccer.

Additionally, the hydration breaks last for three minutes, and by allowing commercial breaks during these periods, FIFA has opened new channels of revenue during soccer games, which often run for 90 minutes non-stop, separated by only a half-time break.

The intentions behind the hydration break widely differ according to players, coaches, and fans, as it sent the soccer world spiraling into a new debate.

A myriad of opinions on the hydration break

When the hydration break was trialed at the Club World Cup in 2025, it caught the attention of a handful of fans and officials. But with the break becoming a norm at the World Cup, everyone involved with the tournament became a stakeholder.

Nestor Lorenzo, Colombia’s head coach, revealed how the hydration breaks turn into game-changers if they last beyond a minimal time, even during optimal conditions.

“When these breaks last three, four, or five minutes, I feel they lose the true essence of hydration and turn into something else. I am noticing that, initially, when hydration breaks were called, they would show the manager speaking with the players; now, they are all commercial breaks, meaning there is a different purpose behind them,” he said.

Stats back the momentum-killing factor Lorenzo pointed out.

12 out of the 22 first-half goals so far and 12 out of the 24 second-half goals have come within a minute or two of the hydration breaks, according to ESPN. These goals often proved to be match-changing, and the Australia-Turkiye game proved it. Australia scored in each half after the hydration breaks, and Turkiye, despite having higher possession, were just helpless and lost the game 2-0.

“It’s advantageous for the team losing momentum; that’s why I call them momentum breaks. When you’re on top, you don’t want it; when you’re losing, you do,” USWNT boss Emma Hayes told ITV as she acknowledged the momentum-changing nature of these breaks.

But not all coaches were detesting the new changes.

Julian Nagelsmann of Germany praised the breaks for giving coaches time to adjust to opposition formations and tweak tactics midway. French coach Didier Deschamps was happy to break the game down into four quarters, test different ideas in each, and speak to players directly during the break.

Even the players had mixed opinions on the subject. Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk said he was not a fan of the idea, but England’s Jordan Pickford was happy to play along.

“Hydration breaks are a bit interesting, because I was obviously watching almost all the games up until today, and every time going to commercial is a bit. Not really that I like it. I think for the neutral watchers on TV it’s also not great,” Van Dijk said.

“It is good practice to have them to prepare for New York and Boston. It is still humid in the stadium; they are not going to stop happening, so we may as well get used to them and treat them as an advantage, not a disadvantage,” Pickford opined.

But one section of the game that was absolutely critical of the break is the fans. The fans are staunchly believing that the hydration break is nothing but an attempt to Americanize the game and use the break to commercialize the product. Many believed it breaks down the very essence of football, that is, to have non-stop action.

During the England-Croatia game, a section of fans booed during the hydration break. A few revealed that they were afraid that the hydration breaks would even translate into the domestic seasons that will resume after the World Cup. As the World Cup goes on, the debate surrounding the hydration break will only invite more and more opinions.