Howdy, i couldn't find a general WC section so I'm posting this here. The hydration breaks, and Fox commercials, are really beyond irritating. They change the game and also, of course, the viewing experience. As a form of protest: What if everyone who is streaming the game would just shut down the app and stop the stream for 3 minutes. Would this send a message to Fox? To Fifa? Would they notice? One would think that if enough people just turned off the app for 3 minutes during these stupid hydration breaks that the broadcasters and Fifa and would take notice. I'm envisioning this idea going viral (but alas, I'm not on any social media or reddit) and somehow impacting the powers at be such that they never do these unnecessary water breaks again. Any other ideas to protest this fundamental change to the game?
Well, funny enough, that's what I've been doing. Quit the Fox app, go to Peacock to see when the break ends and then relaunch Fox. But the real point is to eliminate unnecessary water breaks. What can a fan do to change this new reality? Or is this just a one off tournament change? I don't think so because all broadcasters are benefitting from increased ad revenue, whether they cutaway or just show ads on the edge of the screen. The broadcasters will want to make this permanent.
It’s the US and summer- there will be outdoor games that need breaks. Then teams without such breaks are playing under different conditions. So all games have breaks- just like all college basketball games have media timeouts every four minutes of play regardless of whether the game is televised.
Yeah, that's true. And that emphasizes that that it feels like we are a slippery slope to have media breaks every x minutes in soccer (x<22.5). College hoops didn't always have so many commercials. How can we (the fans) stop it in soccer?...prevent the incessant "media" interruptions? This WC has put the game on notice, the days of 45 minute halves are numbered.
I have been watching a Polish stream at a friend's house and they are not cutting to commercials. AND, no Stu Holden. Win Win!
Euro '24 had a heat wave in Germany, and some games needed breaks and some didn't, and they all managed without considering that some kind of competitive unfairness.
I was gonna say open a perfectly legal copyright stream online from websites where youll have to click through advertisements of gambling and boobies but..........youll get there eventually. But Telemundo sounds better, do that.
I use the mute button to not have to listen to commercials. I have even made note of who the advertisers are on the intrusive NWSL add during sub or other delays and I sent letters to the offenders and I even canceled my Capital One card and told them why. But, since doing that I have noticed there have been more of those horrible commercials so I have just been using the mute button for piece of mind when watching soccer. BTW: I have access to Tele... but my Spanish is only so so and they get so fast a lot of the time that I have no idea what is happening. Because I am so well trained to use the mute button I get MUCH less irritated than I used to. But my experience and the way I watch sports is not for everyone. I don't listen to the pre or post match divvel and I turn off the sound for the entire half time break.
I love 'em. Gives me a chance to empty the ol' bladder and get some food. Also, in my opinion the games overall have been pretty entertaining and fast-paced, and there have been plenty of goals. Yes, it may be mainly because of the extra subs, but I think the hydration breaks probably contribute to this.
Players should stay on the field and neutral staff should provide liquids for 90 seconds. Game clock stops. Should only happen in tournaments or if temperature thresholds are met. No coaching conferences.
Yeah, I'm fine with hydration breaks if truly necessary based on the heat. But why do they need them in indoor stadiums or places up north that aren't that hot right now? It's also annoying that they've made them long enough to be a full commercial break. It should just be 30 seconds for guys to run over, drink a little, and get back on the field. They've de facto changed the game from two halves to four quarters.
I'm guessing that they are using the breaks evenly because teams are also using them as coaching breaks and that would be unfair to those that don't get that. I guess they could isolate players from coaches in matches that really need the hydration. I just kind of laugh at the disparity in complaining about the pace in MLS for years when at first they didn't have breaks and now Euro teams acting like high 70's is hot and they need those breaks.
Sure, but a "heat wave" in Germany is very different that the standard conditions in most parts of the US in the summer. I've got mixed feelings about it, nonetheless. It definitely gives an extra opportunity to coach (that can be planned around) that's never been a thing in soccer. It's got its positives and negatives. The jury in my head is wary, but willing to hear it out.
It's also been interesting to see teams have the chance to reset midway through a half. So far, I feel like it's made the games more interesting, and I think it will ultimately favor the higher quality teams anyway. EDIT: Today's Spain-Cabo Verde game was a good example. Cabo Verde played well for the first quarter of the game, but really turned the game some especially in the last 15 minutes of the first half. Their average field position advanced for those minutes, and they had their best attacking possessions in that time. Ultimately, they were forced back again in the 2nd half, but won themselves a very solid draw against Spain.
There aren't really standard conditions going from Seattle to Mexico City to Miami to Foxborough to an indoor dome. And then conditions vary based on different weather each day. The break was added to the game for the times when the conditions made it necessary, not to be a new regular feature of the sport.
Sometimes, though, extreme circumstances force changes that otherwise would not have happened. The 5 subs that we're now used to (and 26-man rosters) came about due to the COVID pandemic. It's definitely a significant change to how the game goes, but I've not heard much complaint about this change. I think we'll have to see what the data bears when this WC is over. My guess is that FIFA will keep it, or something like it.
Yeah, I don't really buy the argument that it's unfair if some games have the breaks and others don't. It's not like one team is getting a break and their opponent in that game isn't. If we're talking competitive imbalance--it's WAY more unfair that Uzbekistan and Doctor Congo get to play Colombia in Mexico whereas Portugal has to play them in Miami; or that Egypt gets Iran in Seattle whereas NZ and Belgium get them in LA.
Like them or hate them, spoiler alert I hate them, you can't argue that they don't change the game. They change it for the fan in that we now have commercial breaks in soccer. The very thing that everyone joked about when we got the World Cup in '94 is now actually happening in '26. That's a fundamental change for the viewer. But even more importantly you are actually changing the game itself. Going from two halves to four quarters. One of the beauties of football is that the players have to sort it out for themselves. If you are being dominated, if the other team has momentum, the players have to fix it. The manager can't just call a timeout and get everyone on the same page. For 150 years this has been a player dominated game, not one micromanaged from the sidelines. Now coaches playing a bigger role is part of a wider trend. The focus on set pieces, goal keepers suddenly having a sore hammy when their team is under pressure, things like that. So these quarter breaks aren't in isolation, which is why there is so much backlash. I am not saying there can't be hydration breaks, but they can be based on a pre-determined criteria, and announced close to game time so coaches can't rely on them. Soccer has been a game of two halves for 150 years. Making it a four quarter game because Fox wants to sell more advertising is pretty poor. But my guess is horse has left the stable on this. By the end of the tournament people will be used to it, and it will become the norm in international football. From there MLS and probably some other smaller leagues will introduce them, and eventually the pressure from TV will be so high that even the top European Leagues will do it and there it is.