FOXBOROUGH, Mass -- .Thomas Tuchel has said hydration breaks "change the identity" of World Cup matches and take away a "characteristic of the beautiful game."
At this year's World Cup, all 104 games are due to be stopped once for three minutes in each half regardless of the weather or if the stadium is air-conditioned. An exception came on Monday when the break was aborted in France's second half against Iraq, following a two-hour delay for thunderstorms in Philadelphia.
They have been repeatedly greeted with boos by supporters at various matches across the group stage while critics have argued they have effectively added a commercial break by stealth for television viewers.
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."
Heavy rain is forecast in Boston on Wednesday, with a water break of a different kind looking more likely than a need to rehydrate the players.
However, Tuchel will use the time with his players in a different way.
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"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 always to be able to actually react to what's happening on the pitch."
Information from PA was used in this report.