The weather in the Club World Cup is frequent, is the host of the United States ready for the World Cup next year?

In the early morning of June 29, Chelsea and Benfica's eight-time finals were in full swing. A wonderful free kick had just ignited the atmosphere of the game. A thunderstorm suddenly came, and the game was pressed instantly.

This is the sixth game of this Club World Cup that was interrupted due to weather.

It's not just this. During the group stage, the Boca Youth vs. Auckland City game was also postponed for about an hour due to thunderstorms. After the game, the Boca coach said bluntly: "When we recovered, we already knew the result of another game, and the team lost their fighting spirit." These words sounded like an excuse, but behind it was a more serious issue: the weather was interrupted, and it was quietly changing the direction of the game and the fairness of the competition.

There are more than one problem, and it is already a "systemic interference"

According to statistics, as of now, at least 6 games have been postponed or interrupted due to weather, including the following matches:

Mamerodi Sunset vs Ulsan HD

Pachuca vs Salzburg Red Bull

Palmeiras vs Cairo Nationals

Benfica vs Auckland City

Boca Youth vs Auckland City

Benfica vs Chelsea

From the group stage to the knockout stage, none of them survived, and almost became the "standard process". The cities involved are spread across Orlando, New Jersey, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Nashville and other places, and it can be seen that the problems are not only concentrated in a certain area.

This is not an "occasional atmosphere", it is a flaw that the host must face.

A game is interrupted for two hours, whose pace of the game is still there?

Take Chelsea's game against Benfica for example - James' goal changed the score to 1-0. Chelsea's morale is strong and the opponent is in the passive counterattack stage. Suddenly, the thunderstorm comes, and the player is forced to return to the locker room and wait for nearly two hours, which is equivalent to "warm up-game-warm up-game" and the rhythm is messy.

For professional teams, rhythm is the state, and state is the result. The longer the interruption time, the easier it is to dilute the dominant advantage.

This is also why Di Maria was able to score points in stoppage time, and both sides finally hit overtime. It’s not that Chelsea is not strong enough, but that force majeure has completely broken the original balance.

Similar encounters even triggered a chain reaction of "mindfulness collapse" in the group stage of Boca Youth. Players' emotions, technical and tactical deployment, and game preparation are compressed, interrupted or even reversed, and their competitiveness is destroyed.

What should I do in the 2026 World Cup? Is the United States ready?

This Club World Cup is just a "small beta" of the World Cup, and the United States will co-organize the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico. Among them, the United States alone undertakes the competition tasks of 11 cities. The question now is:

If a Club World Cup game is interrupted for nearly two hours due to weather, how will it deal with such a intensive schedule and a systematic event of multiple teams crossing?

What should I do if the team cannot maintain its on-the-spot state? What should I do if the

score is affected by the interruption?

Can the fairness of the group stage be guaranteed?

What should I do if the audience experience is destroyed?

Is the safety and event coordination mechanism perfect enough?

The current Club World Cup has exposed some answers. The weather is uncontrollable, but the plan must be; thunderstorms may occur frequently, but the event organization cannot panic; cities are widely distributed, but the infrastructure and linkage mechanism must be "stable as an old dog".

From global events to local climate, football is also testing the host's "responsiveness".

Chelsea won this game, but the process made people breathe; although the Boca youth was eliminated, they left a questioning voice; and FIFA and the organizers of the local American event should find the solution for 2026 in these six "weather episodes".

Players must compete for strength, and the host must also compete for protection.

The real competition is not only good at playing on the court, but also able to withstand the storm.