The Stoppage Times

It’s safe to say that this World Cup has been nothing short of bizarre as of today, Monday 22/06/26. Cabo Verde pulling off their major upset draw holding Spain to a 0-0 score line was one thing, but having the fortitude to get back level after Uruguay pulled two smash and grab goals to take a 2-1 lead into half was another thing altogether. The 2-2 draw last night means that with only Saudi Arabia left to play the island nation off the coast of Senegal are sat in an amazing position to defy the odds and make it to the round of 32 of their first ever World Cup.
The expanded format of the tournament has given us some teams that nobody would usually expect to qualify showing tremendous spirit in the group stage, Curaçao recovering from their 7-1 thumping at the hands of Brazil to maintain a scoreless draw with Ecuador with a goalkeeping performance which set the record for the most saves in a 90 minute match at the tournament with 15 saves inside normal time do deny the Ecuadorians a single goal of their over 3.0xG, take a bow Eloy Room.

Seeing these smaller nations fighting against the powerhouses with some degree of success has been quite refreshing though not everyone has been so lucky, my own Ireland and fellow non-qualifiers Denmark can’t help but to feel we should have made it after tight qualifier games saw us both miss out at the hands of Czechia who are already in a major spot of bother as they sit on a single point with confirmed group winners Mexico still to play having fallen short against South Korea (2-1 loss) and South Africa (1-1). Similarly upon their return to the World Cup, a return the nation had dreamt of for 24 years, Türkiye are already confirmed to be going home after losses to Paraguay and Australia as FIFA changed to prioritise head-to-head over goal difference meaning even if they do beat group winners USA they cannot come 3rd above a potential loser of Paraguay vs Australia.
A large chunk of football fans had labelled Türkiye and Ecuador as their dark horses for the tournament which makes the fact that one have been knocked out already and the other are unlikely to make it out of the group as they are relying on a better result against Germany than Curaçao can get against Côte d’Ivoire all the more surprising. Both sides haven’t looked terrible in their matches but just struggle to put the ball in the back of the net. I’ll confess that I didn’t make an effort to watch either of the Turkish games due to one being a 05:00 kick-off and the other kicking off 6 hours before I was due in work on Saturday so neither were really feasible, I missed Ecuador vs Curaçao under similar work related circumstances along with a lack of anticipation after I was quite literally bored to sleep by Ecuador vs Côte d’Ivoire with some of the worst finishing I’ve seen.

Unfortunately I have to admit that I’ve actually fallen asleep watching a fair few of the 00:00 and 01:00 games, a mixture of the time and the general lack of intensity at this early stage of the tournament being high on the list of reasons. The number one reason is much more obvious and a much contested topic, the “hydration” breaks which make the game more similar to domestic sports of North America by splitting the game roughly into quarters and make a complete mockery of the sport. These breaks were called out by RTÉ presenter Richie Sadlier during the halftime analysis of Mexico vs South Africa as he said;
“I can’t let the moment go without noting that this is my first experience watching a game of football that’s been broken in the first-half by advertisement breaks.
“I understand there’s a water break, I know that’s a decision taken externally, but ads during a match is wrong. It just is.”
Sadlier hasn’t been the only one to complain about this and RTÉ did take something of a backstep as not all of the games go to advertisements during these hydration breaks, even in the USA broadcasters have changed to adopt a picture-in-picture approach due to the backlash of the match feed being cut during the breaks for advertisements. While it is extremely hot in Mexico and parts of the USA at this time of year these breaks didn’t occur in Brazil for the 2014 tournament where northern host cities in the country saw temperatures around 30 Celsius nor in Qatar 2022 where the tournament was moved to play during winter as the 21-28 Celsius peak temperature range was more manageable for players compared to the logistics of keeping cool in a Qatari summer would be when temperatures can exceed 40-45 Celsius.
I don’t want to get too political as that is far from the focus of this blog but where it has an influence on football I am willing to make an exemption to that rule, in this case I want to touch on global warming which has played a part in the necessity of the hydration breaks for the tournament. On average the most southernly regions of this tournament around Mexico and Texas temperatures would sit around the range of 30-38 Celsius at the peak of the day, while this is hot with evening kick-offs this would be somewhat similar to the 2014 edition of the tournament in Brazil so one could assume the breaks would not be needed.
Global warming has unfortunately been showing a rise in temperatures over the last number of years which could have caused a need for hydration breaks and while I do encourage anyone reading to take action if they can to help combat global warming I can’t lay the entire blame for the absurd 40+ degree heatwaves in Mexico and Texas on global warming. This summer we are seeing a natural phenomenon called “El Niño” taking effect, this phenomenon usually leads to an increase in strong storms like hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons and warmer temperatures due to a natural warming of the Pacific Ocean as westerly winds slow and allow warm water to reach further east disturbing the normal weather patterns, I recommend reading more into the topic on National Geographic (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/super-el-nino-extreme-weather-climate) and/or the BBC (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75ylx7g00xo) as the topic is quite fascinating and can be linked to the heatwaves around the world which sees the UK and Ireland reaching over 30 degrees in places across this week.

All in all while this World Cup has had a fair few reasons for fans to be frustrated with the organisational efforts of the host bodies and FIFA I am still locked in and excited for the rest of the 2nd group stage games especially Argentina vs Austria, and the final round of group F where two teams I enjoy to watch, Japan and the Netherlands, appear to be duking it out for the first seed. To those reading who’s nation still stand a chance of lifting the trophy I wish you the best of luck, and to my French relatives all I can say is “Allez les bleus!!!”

Thanks for reading,
Lily