3 min readJun 23, 2026 05:19 PM IST England manager Thomas Tuchel has voiced his discomfort with the hydration breaks being used at the ongoing World Cup, arguing that they are altering the natural rhythm and flow of matches more than he initially expected. Speaking ahead of England’s second Group L fixture against Ghana in Boston on Tuesday night, Tuchel said the interruptions – introduced to help players cope with extreme heat in certain venues – were now being applied too uniformly across matches, regardless of actual conditions. Forecasts suggest rain and relatively mild temperatures for the upcoming game, yet the stoppages are still expected to be enforced. “I think that it interrupts and changes the identity of a football match much more than I thought,” Tuchel said. “I had hydration breaks before when it was really, really hot and needed, but they were shorter. They were shorter, and they were just in a few matches. In the interests of fairness here, it is now done in every match for every team,” he added. The …