Van Dijk says he ‘doesn’t like’ World Cup hydration breaks and commercials

Virgil van Dijk says he is not a fan of the blanket hydration breaks in every World Cup game and thinks the breaks should be implemented on a game-by-game basis.

Speaking after Netherlands 2-2 Japan, Van Dijk was asked for his thoughts on the new breaks, of which there is one per half.

The Dutch captain said: “I think hydration breaks are really interesting. I was obviously watching almost all of the games up until today. I think every time going to commercials is a bit, not really something that I like.

“I think for the neutral watchers on TV it is also not great. So if it is really hot it would be good to put them in but I think you have to look at it in every game, separately, in my opinion. But I think I have said enough already on that.”

The breaks have caused a lot of debate among fans, but they didn’t seem to break up the flow in what was a fantastic game between the Netherlands and Japan.

Only Sweden have won a game so far in Group F so far, and Japan and the Netherlands are second and third respectively.