England’s head coach Thomas Tuchel has slammed hydration breaks in the ongoing FIFA World Cup and said they change identity of games. Recently, Argentina’s boss Lionel Scaloni had also criticised the hydration breaks, saying they break the momentum of the game.

Players are given a three-minute hydration break at the half-way stage of both halves as the matches are being played in scorching heat. The hydration breaks are compulsory irrespective of the weather conditions.

Speaking on Monday ahead of England’s Group L clash against Ghana, Tuchel said: “I think that it interrupts and changes the identity of a football match much more than I thought. Of course I had hydration breaks before when it was really, really hot and needed but they were shorter.

“They were just in a few matches. Now it is a point of fairness to every team. Now it breaks the match almost in four quarters and it changes the characteristic of the match more than I thought.

“I like it as a coach to have influence and have my team together but overall, I think I like football when it is played in one go, in one half. It builds a momentum, it is part of the game.

“It is hard to build momentum and hard to keep the momentum. This is the battle on the field between the players on the field, it plays out in a longer period of time. It just adds to the characteristic of the beautiful game. It takes away from it. But on a point of fairness, of course it makes sense that everyone gets it.”

Meanwhile, heavy rain is forecasted in Boston on Wednesday and Tuchel revealed he will look to use the hydration break in a different way.

“We will try to use it, of course,” he said. “We have a plan in mind, but not too much of it, because I don’t want to limit myself in the response to what the game needs.

“I want to use my intuition and the experience, and to actually what’s happening.

“So I want to always be able to actually react to what’s happening on the pitch.”

England won their tournament opener by 4-2 against Croatia.