Mauricio Pochettino reveals plan for World Cup hydration breaks: “I was the first to start doing this”

USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino will attempt to use the controversial World Cup hydration breaks to his advantage, despite admitting that he does not agree with their introduction.

FIFA has announced that, for the first time in the tournament’s history, mandatary hydration breaks will be held during each half of every single fixture this summer. Breaks will even be held in fully air-conditioned venues, like Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

In an attempt to mimic the tournament’s format, hydration breaks were also used during the USMNT - Senegal friendly fixture on Sunday. Pochettino used the breaks to deliver extra messages to his players, providing in-game video clips to players on pitchside devices.

Speaking about it after the game, Pochettino said that it could help issue tactical instructions to his team: “The players need to feel, but they also need to see. It’s very visual."

“It’s not only to tell them what we want, or what they need to do. It’s [so that] they see the image,” Pochettino continued. “We have the possibility to show three or four different actions and how we need to improve, in defensive and offensive phases from the game.”

“But it’s true that the players cannot go out [of the playing field] in the World Cup. So we need to see how we are going to do that, but I think it can be really helpful.”

Will hydration breaks affect the World Cup?

Widespread hydration breaks are a relatively new addition to the game but Pochettino revealed that he had done something similar in the past. In a previous role with Spanish side Espanyol, Pochettino used monitors to show players footage during the halftime break.

Pochettino also mentioned that the team’s new US Soccer National Training Center in Georgia has large screens alongside the fields, allowing the USMNT coaching staff to provide visual feedback for players during sessions.

But for all these developments, some of which appear to have come from Pochettino directly, the USMNT head coach insisted that he is against the widespread introduction of hydration breaks in soccer: “I use the water break to help my players. But still, I don’t like.”

“They say it’s going to help the spectacle but we’re going in a direction where we are going to change [the game]. If we add, add, add then the soccer that we know is going to stop existing, and it’s going to become another sport.”

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