New Zealand’s pre-World Cup friendly against the Haiti National Football Team was pushed back 36 minutes on Tuesday night after torrential rain and an electrical storm turned Chase Stadium’s pitch into a problem. Kickoff had been set for 8pm ET in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but officials decided the waterlogged surface was unplayable and the lightning made it unsafe to start on time.
Play finally got under way at 8:36pm local time, and Haiti went on to beat New Zealand 4-0. For Chris Wood, the night carried a personal milestone as he won a record-breaking 89th cap, but the delay was the detail that mattered beyond the scoreline because it landed as the first weather disruption of the World Cup summer in North America.
The scene fit a pattern that has begun to worry organizers and teams alike. Last summer’s Club World Cup in the United States was repeatedly interrupted by weather warnings and delays, and Chelsea’s last-16 tie with Benfica in Charlotte was pushed back by close to two hours after a lightning strike in the area. Tuesday’s match in Florida was a smaller fixture, but it showed how quickly a warm-up game can turn into a safety decision when storm clouds roll in.
There was still a football reason to watch it. Haiti, ranked 82nd in the world by FIFA and only three places above New Zealand, are heading to a World Cup group that will take them against Scotland, Brazil and Morocco for the first time in 52 years. New Zealand are in Group G with Iran, Egypt and Belgium, and both sides are using these friendlies to sharpen up before the tournament starts.
The immediate question now is how much more of this North American summer will be shaped by weather. England are due to play New Zealand in Tampa on Saturday and Costa Rica in Orlando on June 10, and Florida has already shown how fast a routine pre-tournament match can become a test of patience for players, officials and spectators.
