Virgil van Dijk has called on FIFA to rethink the use of hydration breaks at the World Cup following the Netherlands’ 2-2 draw with Japan.
The Dutch opened their tournament with a hard-fought point against one of the competition’s dark horses but were left frustrated by Daichi Kamada’s late equalizer. However, it was not just the two dropped points that bothered the Liverpool captain, who had opened the scoring with a trademark first-half header.
FIFA’s mandatory breaks have effectively split matches into four quarters, even though weather conditions for some games have been relatively mild. In Houston, where the Netherlands played Japan under a closed roof, conditions were nearly ideal for football, with temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius.
“Hydration breaks are a bit interesting because I was obviously watching almost all the games, up until today and every time going to a commercial is a bit… not really what I like,” Van Dijk said when asked about the divisive rule change.
“I think also think for the neutral watchers on TV it’s also not great. So if it’s really hot it would be good to put them in, but you have to look at it in every game separately in my opinion. I think I’ve said enough already on that,” he added with a rueful smile.
Former Manchester United and Chelsea star Juan Mata had earlier expressed concern about a development that is likely to disrupt the natural rhythm of matches. He told ITV: “When you are playing the game you just want to keep playing. If you are losing you want to try to score, if you are winning you want to try to keep the ball.
“Those breaks I think they break the momentum. As a player I don’t think it’s fair.” Fellow ITV pundit Ian Wright argued that the motivation behind the hydration breaks has little to do with player welfare and is simply another way to generate commercial revenue.
“I just feel like it’s another way to get adverts in, there’s no way Fox haven’t had a say. You know with FIFA and Fox they’ve got some hand in what they want to do,” he said. “They’ve used the fact that it’s for the hydration of the players, not for me.”
The early evidence suggests the breaks, which come midway through each half, have clearly benefited teams that were on the back foot and have given coaches opportunities to correct tactical issues.
USA women’s head coach Emma Hayes noted: “One of the beautiful things about football is there’s only been one break. It’s not like NBA or NFL. It’s a coaches game this World Cup, there will be analysts sending down three or four clips with tactical adaptations.
“You see Ancelotti make it in the first half by moving Paqueta inside which made a difference because they’d lost a grip of the game in the first 25 minutes. You’ve seen it with every manager so far that coaching comes into play and it’s so advantageous for the team that is losing momentum. If you are on top you don’t want it.”
