The worst thing about America’s World Cup

Roger Bennett explains why everyone hates the World Cup’s new “hydration breaks.”

The World Cup is in full swing, and the vibes are mostly positive! Scottish tourists drank Boston dry, Mexico lifted a 40-year curse, and African teams have had a historic showing.

But there is one pesky little thing that fans REALLY don’t like: hydration breaks, which are a new addition to the tournament this year. Players have complained that they break up the rhythm of the game, and fans believe they are nothing but a cash grab, offering broadcasters more time for commercials.

Roger Bennett, founder of the soccer podcast and media network Men in Blazers, told Today, Explained co-host Sean Rameswaram that the hydration-break rule has “done something that I thought was almost impossible in the football world, which is to unite the entire planet in anger against its very existence.”

There’s a new threat to the World Cup. FIFA might not be ready.

Bennett spoke with Sean about where the hydration breaks came from, why everyone hates them so much, and what makes the World Cup such a special event anyway.

Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full episode, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.

How did hydration breaks do the almost impossible?

Football is, at its heart, a very simple game. It is two halves of 45 minutes. That is the way it is. It’s the way it’s always been. Crucially, it’s the way it is at the elite professional level, and it is the way it is at an under-seven game in Alaska.

It’s pretty critical to football that the game at all levels is exactly the same. That is, until the World Cup came to North America this summer. This is one of the hottest in global football history. And so Gianni Infantino, the head of FIFA, just imposed a new rule where they would have hydration breaks, which he said was part of a focused attempt to ensure the best possible condition for players. He said they’re purely a sporting matter.

Every half, it breaks in the middle now for an extended period, four minutes and 20 seconds per game. And what it does on Fox in America, as the........

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