Timeouts In Soccer? Real Madrid Coach Jose Mourinho Wants Them Introduced

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has called for soccer authorities to introduce a timeout system like the one seen in many American sports.

Timeouts that allow coaching staff to pause play and speak directly to their players are used in football, basketball and ice hockey. However, the concept has been resisted so far by soccer authorities, many of whom argue that soccer’s uniquely flowing style would be destroyed by constant stoppages in play. Currently, soccer coaches and managers can only provide tactical advice to players during the half-time interval.

Speaking to CNN, Mourinho said of timeouts:

“It’s something that I think [soccer] could improve a little bit. It would be to allow during a match to find a way to allow the coach to have a relation with the players.”

The Madrid coach suggested that the timeout could be called during the first half of each game:

“You could ask for a minute like the American sports have. It probably would be a solution, or give us some more freedom to walk around the touchline.”

Mourinho, the self-styled ‘Special One‘, has enjoyed an illustrious career at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and now Real Madrid. Along the way, he has accumulated two Champions League trophies and multiple league titles in four different countries. Within soccer, he is renowned for using unusually early substitutions in a bid to alter the course of a game.

Do you agree with Jose Mourinho that soccer would benefit from a timeout system, or do you feel the sport is better without hold-ups in play?