When FIFA announced there would be a "hydration break" midway through each half at the World Cup, it raised eyebrows.
But for Socceroos coach Tony Popovic, it created an opportunity.
While many have focused on how the breaks create advertising spaces, for tacticians like Popovic the three-minute pauses offer a new way to find an edge.
At the World Cup, some commentators have started referring to the breaks as quarter-time and three-quarter time breaks.
But Popovic has been thinking this way for months.
In March, Popovic flagged turning to coaches from other codes with four quarters, like the AFL, for advice on maximising the breaks.
"Why not? Nothing like that is out of the question," he said then.
"They have strategies for after a quarter: what do they do in the first three or four minutes, how do they get back in the rhythm of the game?
