Marcelo Balboa, one of the most recognizable names in American soccer history, has a simple verdict on FIFA's mandatory hydration breaks at the 2026 World Cup: stop it.
"I am not a fan of it — I think it's hurting the game," the National Soccer Hall of Famer said on CBS Sports Golazo's Golazo Network, pointing to the way stoppages kill momentum. "Look at England — they were in rhythm, stopped for three minutes, and it takes a little bit of time to find that rhythm again."
Balboa wasn't just venting. He flagged something that makes Infantino's official justification hard to defend: over the course of the tournament, only five games actually hit the temperature threshold that supposedly makes the break necessary. Yet every match gets one anyway, including a France vs. Iraq match in Philadelphia — played in the middle of a torrential downpour — where the referee dutifully halted play for players to hydrate while standing in the rain. The boos from the crowd said everything.
Infantino's logic, and why it doesn't quite land
FIFA president Gianni Infantino insists this is purely about player welfare, not commercial interests or tactical gimmickry. His argument for making it universal is at least internally consistent: applying the break only in hot matches would give some coaches an extra timeout that others don't get, creating an uneven playing field.
"Why would the coach have the opportunity to influence the game in one match just because it's hot and in another match where it's a bit less hot?" Infantino said.
It's a real point. But the solution — mandatory breaks in an air-conditioned stadium, or during a rainstorm — creates a different kind of absurdity. When the stoppage happened inside AT&T Stadium, the largest air-conditioned venue in the world, the crowd made their feelings known before the whistle even finished blowing.
Balboa went further, zeroing in on the cultural optics. Watching players signal four fingers — football's four-quarter structure — he sees something bigger than a water bottle. "You're changing our sport," he said, "and it's not good."
UEFA draws a clear line
FIFA has confirmed it will carry the hydration break concept forward to future events. UEFA, which has spent years pushing back against Infantino on everything from the expanded Club World Cup to player welfare calendars, is not following along.
A spokesperson confirmed to The Telegraph that the 2028 Euros will not feature mandatory hydration breaks across the board. Instead, UEFA will assess conditions match by match, using the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature as the deciding metric — the standard scientific measurement for heat stress, applied with actual context rather than blanket enforcement.
It's a pointed contrast. And after UEFA president Alexander Ceferin's poorly received comments about the expanded World Cup format, the governing body badly needed a win in the court of public opinion. This one landed cleanly.
FIFA implemented the hydration break framework at the 2025 Club World Cup, received a mixed response, and pressed ahead anyway. That pattern — trial, criticism, full rollout — suggests the break isn't going anywhere regardless of what fans, pundits, or Hall of Famers think about it. Infantino said so himself.
"It was raining, and these guys were taking a hydration break," Balboa's co-host Tony Meloa said. "Everyone was miserable. The guys coming out of the dugout were just sitting in the rain doing nothing."
Hard to argue with that image.
