FIFA makes decision about moving World Cup final over ‘dangerous’ conditions
Let’s be honest, by this point it wouldn’t feel right if the final match of the tournament wasn’t threatened by ‘dangerous’ conditions.
Much of the World Cup has had the weather looming over it, causing delays and even later nights.
And now there has been conversation over whether tomorrow’s (19 July) match between Argentina and Spain would be moved from a different location.
The teams are set to face in New York but dangerous smoke from wildfires up in Canada is degrading the air quality in the area. A haze is set to be cast over the city and the air quality in New Jersey (where the MetLife Stadium is located) was rated this week as ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’.
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But FIFA has reportedly now made a decision on the matter, with no plans to move the final.
Bloomberg reports that according to a White House official, there’s no major formal meeting on the books about the matter.
There’s apparently been informal discussions about the wildfire decision including FIFA and the head of the White House’s World Cup task force, Andrew Giuliani.
A spokesperson for the National Weather Service added that staff have been stationed at the FIFA command centre in Miami throughout the tournament and will be continuing to monitor the weather this weekend.
Tomorrow’s match kicks off at 3pm local time (8pm BST) at the 80,000-seater open-air stadium, with that location not set to change. And tens of thousands of fans are also expected to watch the final from Central Park.
Of course, the final isn’t just limited to the actual football as we know all too well now, with this big Half Time show set to take place as well as the usual ceremonies.
But the promising news is that forecasters believe the smoke is going to clear up in time for Lionel Messi to face Lamine Yamal and for Justin Bieber to take to the stage, of course.
Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Centre added to Bloomberg that while the smoke in New York City will likely get worse today, most of it is going to clear by tomorrow.
“Sunday will not be terrible for the World Cup,” he added. “Everything we see is that the smoke will be clearing on Sunday.”
Meanwhile, experts have warned of the potential impact of these conditions on the players themselves.
“It not only is going to be terrible, terrible air quality. It's hot, and that can cause an extreme amount of stress on the heart [for players],” Dr Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist and board of directors member at the American Lung Association, said per the Daily Mail.
“That is a very powerful and dangerous one-two punch to the human body. It's going to be critical to maintain core body temperatures as low as possible.”
And AccuWeather’s Adam Douty said that while the air quality may ‘still not be considered good’ tomorrow, it should ‘not be as bad as Saturday’.
“It will also be less humid compared to Saturday, which will make for more comfortable conditions,” he said.
Well, bring on the hate watch, I guess.
Jess Battison