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Major European leagues could well introduce “quarters” to football, following the use of hydration breaks at World Cup 2026.
That's the opinion of Thomas Frank at half-time of the Netherlands vs Sweden, with the BBC's pundits discussing the idea – and Micah Richards opposing it completely.
“No: it slows the intensity down too much,” Richards argued. “I understand why you'd have it but it breaks up the game too much. It completely changes the course of the game. I don't like it.”
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Frank, however, argued why he believed that this kind of splitting of a World Cup game could become the norm in other competitions.
“I want two halves,” the Dane said. “That's what we know. But maybe this World Cup can change it. What is running football? Money. Maybe that's what's going to happen in the future.”
“It's been brilliant – the intensity, the range of passing, and the movement. I would say, in particular, the Netherlands seem more direct, especially for that first goal. Then, yeah, Sweden came back into it after the hydration break using Gyökeres and Isak,” Ellen White said, analysing the contrast in the flow of the game following the break.
“They had runners going forward and a couple of set-pieces; they could have obviously got on the scoresheet, so they'll maybe be disappointed. But the Netherlands blew them away in that first 20 minutes.”
The Netherlands started quickly against Sweden, with Brian Brobbey – in for Crysencio Summerville after the first game – getting on the scoresheet after just five minutes, when he raced to get onto the end of a cutback from the left flank. The goal marked the 100th scored during Ronald Koeman’s second stint as the national manager.
Sweden looked to hit back immediately, with Viktor Gyokeres stinging the palms of Bart Verbruggen before Denzel Dumfries whipped an inviting ball across the Swedish defence, that only just evaded an orange shirt. It wasn’t long before Brobbey doubled the lead for his country though – trebling his international goal tally in under 20 minutes of tournament football – to give the Netherlands a 2-0 win and their 100th goal at the World Cup.
After the drinks break, Sweden wrestled control: Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Yasin Ayari had Sweden’s best chance of the game, on the receiving end of a brilliant Viktor Gyokeres pass that he chose to chest down instead of head, miscontrolling the ball – before the Arsenal striker himself had a shot on goal, parried by Verbruggen.
The Dutch were quick to respond, however, with Gakpo and Malen both coming close to getting the Oranje a third.
Sweden had the ball in the net just before half-time, however: Gustaf Lagerbielke leapt to head the ball beyond Verbruggen from a Swedish free-kick, only for referee Michael Oliver to chalk the goal out immediately – much to the chagrin of Isak, who protested. Gyokeres and Ayari both had efforts denied by Verbruggen, too, in first-half stoppage time, the former seeing a free-kick just outside the box and the latter a piledriver through the defence saved by the Dutch no.1.
A win will see the Dutch through to the next round of the competition.
