Hydration breaks at recent World Cup knockout matches are doubling as planned tactical pauses teams use for substitutions and regrouping. Coaches have timed changes around those pauses, for example a plan described as 'hold, hold, hold and then tear into them after the second hydration break' and a substitution of Balogun noted after the first hydration break. Brazil versus Norway featured a stadium chorus booing the break immediately followed by the loudspeakers playing the Macarena, and one post observed Neymar being brought on just before a hydration break so he could recover. Viewers also flagged a shift toward branded 'match break' announcements and spectators expressed annoyance with the interruptions. Several posts described teams treating matches like four quarters by playing to the hydration-break clock and using the pause to reset tactics.
