Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa was direct and said that the hydration breaks introduced in each half of World Cup matches do not add anything to football and, at the same time, destroy the cultural essence of the sport.
FIFA introduced three-minute hydration breaks in each half due to scorching temperatures in host cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico, but the breaks divided opinion among players and coaches.
Critics claim that halftimes, which essentially divide the game into four quarters, simply allow broadcasters to profit from commercial breaks lasting more than two minutes, and this has been a point of contention among sports purists.
“Playing four times instead of two changes the conception of what had been culturally constructed to interpret football,” Bielsa said at the press conference.
This change in culture adds nothing and takes away a lot. I will just say that, before this decision, football had one characteristic, now it has another. People fall in love with the game because of its features. Of course, technologies like VAR are welcomed and valued. Technology offers more opportunities. There is another intention behind the loot breaks, and the conclusions I’m drawing here are not exactly my own. I also agree with what I have heard.
Uruguay faces the Cape Verdeans in their second game at the World Cup, .
