The American authorities had issued a regulation related to thunderstorms before the start of the 2026 World Cup. If lightning was detected within a radius of 13km around the stadium, the match would be immediately interrupted and could only resume if no lightning was reported for the following 30 minutes. The threat was therefore known.
However, we had to wait until the 42nd match of the competition for this to happen. And heaven did not do things by halves, since it was a veritable deluge that fell on Philadelphia during France-Iraq. The match was also interrupted for 2 hours and 12 minutes at half-time. A wait as endless as it is rare.
“It’s the longest half I’ve experienced,” confirmed Didier Deschamps, the Blues coach. It must be said that the meeting started at 11 p.m. and ended at 2:48 a.m., or almost 4 hours on “two” different days seen from Europe.
A question arises: how did the French kill time during this half? “We played cards,” quipped Didier Deschamps. Others continued to play football. “Everyone did what they could: there were some who played a little ball, there were some who hydrated, who ate,” summarized Maghnes Akliouche.
The first and last time
“We tried to stay warm and active by cycling and doing mobility exercises,” explained Jules Koundé. We were together, we were able to chat a little about the match and relax a little.
Once the time for resuming the game was set, we had to refocus and warm up, as if a new game was starting. This scenario smiled on France as they scored twice after returning from the locker room to win 3-0.
“We could say that we experienced these particular conditions once, but I hope that it was the first and the last,” admitted Didier Deschamps.
