Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa said the hydration breaks introduced in each half of the World Cup matches add nothing to football while destroying the cultural essence of the sport.
FIFA introduced three-minute hydration breaks halfway through each half due to sweltering temperatures in host cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico, but the breaks have divided opinion between players and coaches.
Critics say the intermissions, which effectively divide the game into four quarters, simply allow broadcasters to take advantage of commercial breaks for more than two minutes, and that this has been a point of contention among the sport’s purists.
“Playing four times instead of two changes the understanding of what was culturally built to interpret football,” Bielsa told reporters.
«This culture change adds nothing and takes away a lot. I just want to say that before this decision, football had one characteristic, but now it has a different characteristic. People fall in love with the game because of its characteristics.»
«Of course we commend and appreciate technology such as VAR. Technology offers more possibilities. There is a different purpose for the breaks and the conclusions I draw here are not really my own. I also repeat what I hear.»
Uruguay plays Cape Verde in its second match on Sunday, with the tightly contested group well balanced with all four teams on one point each.
Cape Verde held European champions Spain to a 0-0 draw with a defensive masterclass and Bielsa said Uruguay would learn lessons from the low defensive block they faced in the 1-1 draw with Saudi Arabia.
“We had a lot of possession and created very few chances in the first half,” Bielsa explained, adding that the team already knows what formation it needs to play.
“In the second half it was agile and attacking possession, dynamic in nature with a high degree of mobility.”
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Uruguay’s Darwin Nunez was largely neutralized by Saudi Arabia, with the striker scoring just one shot before being sent off at half-time, drawing criticism of his performance.
The 26-year-old looks set to be dropped after failing to score in his last 14 games for Uruguay, but Bielsa said it was not a confidence issue.
“Any footballer who plays in the World Cup doesn’t need any motivation,” Bielsa said.
“The ramifications, the scope, the beauty of such a high caliber tournament – it makes everyone who takes part very passionate and rightly so.”
On a lighter note, Bielsa dismissed suggestions that his players could emulate Spain’s Marc Cucurella, who has vowed to get a tattoo of coach Luis de la Fuente if he wins the World Cup.
“This isn’t going to happen,” he said emphatically, prompting laughter.
Published on June 21, 2026
