{"id":530957,"date":"2026-07-03T10:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T10:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/530957\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T10:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T10:49:10","slug":"i-feel-like-we-invented-hydration-breaks-when-ireland-played-mexico-in-43-degrees-at-1994-world-cup-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/530957\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I feel like we invented hydration breaks\u2019: When Ireland played Mexico in 43 degrees at 1994 World Cup \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSome of the boys were melting,\u201d says Jason McAteer as he recalls one of the most notorious matches in World Cup history. \u201cEspecially Steve Staunton and Tommy Coyne, they really struggled in the heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the group stage of the 1994 World Cup and the Republic of Ireland, having just defeated eventual finalists Italy in their opening match, were facing Mexico at the Citrus Bowl in Florida.<\/p>\n

The lunchtime kick-off meant the sun was positioned so high in the sky that only the smallest of shadows were cast on to the pitch and temperatures rose up to 43 degrees. More than 100 supporters reportedly collapsed in the stands from heat stress.<\/p>\n

The photographs from that day tell the story of a sporting contest that looked more like a science experiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe heat was stifling and the stadium was a cauldron,\u201d McAteer explains. \u201cIt was a huge bowl so it kept the noise in and certainly kept the heat in. It felt a lot hotter on the pitch than it did walking around outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was young, I\u2019d just had my 24th birthday, and I had bags of energy. But I don\u2019t think any of us had experienced conditions like that, never mind playing in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ireland’sIreland\u2019s Roy Keane pours water on himself during the game. Photograph: Billy Stickland\/Inpho <\/p>\n

In retrospect, Ireland\u2019s attempts to prepare for the American heat were \u201ccomical\u201d, McAteer says. \u201cWe tried to acclimatise, we trained and we were given caps to wear. But the thing I remember most was the Dioralyte supplements they gave us to get salt back into our bodies. That\u2019s as far as the sports science went back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remarkably, there were no official hydration breaks during games at the World Cup in 1994 and Fifa even banned players from consuming bottled water on the pitch. Ireland\u2019s intemperate manager, Jack Charlton, complained so much that on the eve of the Mexico match Fifa reversed its stance and agreed to allow water balloons to be thrown on to the field \u2013 thereby ensuring that central midfielders had more chances to hydrate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we had to cool us down was cold flannels and plastic bags of water, which we poured over our heads,\u201d McAteer says. \u201cI feel like we invented hydration breaks, although we didn\u2019t actually stop playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

With only two substitutes permitted per team (except in the event of a goalkeeping injury), nine players from each side had to endure the full 90 minutes on the field.<\/p>\n

\"RepublicRepublic of Ireland manager Jack Charlton: there were no official hydration breaks during games at the World Cup in 1994 and Fifa even banned players from consuming bottled water on the pitch. Photograph: Joe St Leger\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Charlton tried to make a double substitution in the 66th minute with his team trailing 2-0, and although McAteer made a speedy entrance, Aldridge\u2019s arrival was delayed by the officials, forcing Ireland to play with 10 men for four minutes. It sparked a memorable tirade from the striker, who called a blazer-wearing official on the sidelines a \u201ctwat\u201d and a \u201ccheat\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack told me and John to warm up before going on, which was ironic because we couldn\u2019t have been any hotter,\u201d says McAteer. \u201cWhen you talk about heat stress and anxiety and decision-making, the heat definitely got to people,\u201d he adds, referring to Aldridge\u2019s rant.<\/p>\n

Aldridge\u2019s late strike proved crucial in Ireland\u2019s progress to the knockout phase, but on reflection even he thinks the match was ill-advised.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was ridiculous, nuts,\u201d Aldridge says. \u201cThe conditions affected how we played, massively. When you went for a run you couldn\u2019t get your breath back. It wasn\u2019t just the heat, it was the humidity. People don\u2019t realise how hard we had to work under Jack and that, added to the heat and the humidity, is the reason we struggled, especially in the fourth game against the Dutch. We couldn\u2019t cope.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland’sIreland\u2019s Roy Keane and Steve Staunton leave the pitch after the game. Photograph: Billy Stickland\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cJack was saying before the Mexico game that someone could die without getting a drink of water, but [initially] no one listened to him. It looks like a dinosaur age in comparison to now, but it wasn\u2019t that long ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Charlton\u2019s warning was almost prophetic. In the wake of the contest, Coyne was taken aside for a drugs test but was so dehydrated that he consumed an excessive amount of water before he could pass urine.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe drank so much he basically flooded his body,\u201d McAteer recalls, \u201cand when we flew back to New York he took a really bad turn. All of the fluid and the pressure built up inside him and the pilot had to drop altitude to help him. That was a real health risk for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MexicoMexico and Ireland teams take a water break during the 1994 World Cup game. Photograph: Billy Stickland\/Inpho <\/p>\n

With eastern parts of the US due to experience a \u201cdangerous\u201d heatwave this weekend, several fixtures at this year\u2019s World Cup could take place in potentially hazardous conditions in stadia that lack roofing and air-conditioning \u2013 albeit later kick-off times should help to ease the heat. They include Argentina v Cape Verde, in Miami; Paraguay v France, in Philadelphia; Brazil v Norway, in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a throwback to 1994, but this time the players will be better protected, says McAteer. \u201cI think Fifa does care about the welfare of the players now because they\u2019ve introduced hydration breaks across the board,\u201d he says, \u201ceven if they are also being used as tactical and commercial breaks\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it might be a little bit different for England in their next game [against Mexico on Monday 1am BST] because they\u2019re going to have to deal with the altitude in Mexico as well. That\u2019s something they might not have envisaged. I don\u2019t know how they could have prepared for that, other than actually being in that kind of environment.\u201d \u2014 Guardian<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Andy Hunter<\/p>\n

World Cup Wallchart<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cSome of the boys were melting,\u201d says Jason McAteer as he recalls one of the most notorious matches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2956,61,60,43,1842,4018],"class_list":["post-530957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-fifa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}