09/06/2026

SPORTS TUESDAY | JUNE 9, 2026

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2026 WORLD CUP

Weather extremes Stifling heat, storm delays could impact World Cup H EAT, humidity and thunderstorms are synonymous with summer in many North American regions – and in a few weeks they could also threaten the 2026 Enzo Maresca, who at the time coached Chelsea, called delays a “joke” that upset focus, asking whether some American cities were right to host major tournament games. Lightning carries serious risks. Deaths from direct strikes are rare, but do happen. According to the US Centers for Disease

report that said “grueling heat” could impact a quarter of slated games, including New Jersey’s final. Fifa has mandated cooling breaks during each half of the matches. Doctor Chris Mullington of Imperial College London said it’s possible some footballers “just won’t be able to play at the intensity that they’re used to.” Fans – many of whom might be consuming alcohol in direct sun under heavy heat and humidity – may face even more health risks. By and large, those people “will not be elite athletes and may come with many co-morbidities that could be exacerbated by the heat,” Mullington said. A group of current and former professional players led by Norway’s Morten Thorsby deliv ered a recent petition to Fifa describing the impacts of heat, saying “it can make you feel light-headed, dizzy, experience fatigue, muscle cramps and worse.” They urged Fifa to update its World Cup heat stress framework, a measure they insisted be cou pled with “consistent climate action.” “It would be a missed opportunity if a sport so impacted by the climate crisis doesn’t take its responsibility in addressing it,” read the open let ter. – AFP

improved at predicting severe weather and urged fans to heed risk warnings and protocol sur rounding impacted matches. “A lot of people maybe imagine if they can’t see the storm, they can’t see the lightning, they haven’t heard the thunder yet, that they’re not in an active threat,” Malloy told AFP . “But lightning can strike miles away from an actual storm location.” Ziqin Ding, a University of Florida lightning researcher, said stadiums are generally well-pro tected with precautions like lightning rods, metal devices meant to prevent structural damage or fires by intercepting strikes and providing a path for harmful electrical discharge to disperse. But strikes nearby still could “cause interrup tion for stadium events,” he told AFP . Fifa will use a few stadiums with roofs, air conditioning or both – in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Vancouver – to ease concerns over storm delays or extreme heat. But many are open-air. This could spell storm delays and subject players and fans to debilitating temperatures. During 2025’s club tournament, many matches were played in weather over 32°C, with humidity making it feel even hotter. A team of climate scientists recently released a

World Cup. This year’s edition of the tournament is being played across the US, Canada and Mexico at 16 host cities, including places accustomed to soar ing summer temperatures exacerbated by stifling humidity. Frequent wildfires in places like Canada and California meanwhile pose air quality risks. Then there’s thunder and lightning: in the US, summer storms often mean outdoor sporting interruptions. Generally, a 30-minute mandatory delay fol lows a lightning strike within an approximately 13-16km radius. Every subsequent flash sets off a new half-hour pause. Last year’s Fifa Club World Cup, which served as a dress rehearsal for this year’s tournament, saw six matches significantly delayed by severe weather, which scientists expect could become increasingly common as greenhouse gases con tinue to warm the planet. The repeated club tournament game delays left some critics and coaches wondering if the US should even host.

Control and Prevention, there were 444 lightning strike deaths in the US between 2006 and 2021, and most occurred during outdoor leisure activi ties. Regions east of the Rocky Mountains are at highest risk. Those areas tend to be quite humid due to warm Gulf waters, which creates moisture that can rise and form thunderstorms. Scientists are voicing concern that climate change might inject uncertainties into storm pat terns, and perhaps create conditions that would make lightning strikes even more prevalent. Kelsey Malloy of the University of Delaware said “we haven’t really detected strong trends yet” but overall “it is expected that lightning is going to increase” in parts of the US. A warming climate “has been linked to heav ier rainfall rates as well as stronger rising air” which “equals greater electrification of clouds, and therefore greater lightning flash rates.” Malloy, a climate scientist, said forecasting has

Blood, penalties and unwashed underwear

FROM THE BENCH Ű BY COACH CHRIS ARIEF

during penalties. Logic leaves the room faster than a 90th minute counterattack. “Each World Cup match I watch, without fail, I must catch the coin toss before the kick off. It’s a ritual of mine. Of course, it also helps me con firm if I guessed right and whether I’ve won anything in our office betting pool,” Giam revealed. My own memories of bet ting during the World Cup are more disastrous than England’s long-standing night mares. Besides, let’s leave that morally questionable hobby for another day. But it was the following women’s team coach whose superstition arguably takes the cake. “I must watch all the matches in complete silence,” she revealed. “I sit perfectly still, alone, and I don’t celebrate a single goal until the final whistle.” For obvious reasons, and perhaps to avoid her friends barging into her home mid tournament, she has chosen to remain anonymous and to protect the ritual at all costs. Every family in Malaysia knows better than to disturb a football fan during their sacred month-long “unwashed lucky underwear” phase. Because here, World Cup football isn’t just watched, it is negotiated with fate, one teh tarik, one superstition, and one sleepless midnight heart break at a time. Coach Chris Arief is an Asian level certified football coach, youth development junkie, and collector of colourful training markers and cones. He can be reached at coachchrisar ief@gmail.com

MALAYSIANS truly come alive only once every four years. For those chosen ones like me who reignite our belief that “it is finally coming home”, only to be emotionally tackled from behind by reality each time around. By the time the group stage ends, we are already doing complex emotional maths: half hope, half denial, and fully functioning on kopi kaw and regret after the initial promise that we will never fall into the trap again. It is a cycle we swear we have grown out of: wasting 30 days losing sleep and gaining a larger Michelin tyre around our waist. Until the next 3am kickoff pulls us right back in. Throughout June and July, football coaches at pot-hole filled community fields, expen sively laid out artificial turfs, and school fields across the country face an added tacti cal headache: suddenly hav ing to deliver Cristiano Ronaldo-style freekick tutorials and French-inspired tactical formations sessions in training. As if we don’t already have enough on our plates trying to convince Malaysian young sters to stop attempting the trivela when they can’t even complete a simple five-yard pass. I was a teeny 10-year-old, but I still have this image for ever etched in my head. The 1982 World Cup in Spain. English defender Terry Butcher with a heavily bleed ing head wound and his white England shirt soaked in red. For me, the image symbol ised pure determination: refusing to come off, playing

fortunate few who have had the once-in-a-lifetime privi lege of experiencing the World Cup live at the stadium itself. Or, in the case of Little League Soccer’s Coach Ong Kee Pin, twice in a lifetime. “Being there for the open ing match of the 2002 Fifa World Cup was my most remarkable memory,” said the 56-year-old youth football coach. And if that alone isn’t enough to draw a few envi ous stares, the Brazil sup porter also attended the clash between Brazil and the Ivory Coast at the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa. When you talk about the World Cup at mamak shops, no local can escape the most sacred ritual: superstition. From lucky jerseys that should never be washed, to “don’t change seat or we concede” rules, to full-on tactical silence

missed, I only remember my dad’s reaction like he was the one taking it. He was so dis appointed, he went into foot ball mourning for weeks, and we had to endure verbal repeat telecasts for many years after.” Somehow, blood, penalties, and red cards always seem to dominate Malaysian foot ball coaches’ most unforget table World Cup memories. “For me, it was seeing my idol, David Beckham, get sent off when England played against Argentina in 1998,” recalled Portugal fan Vincent Chang. The 42-year-old Selangor Soccer School coach added that, as a typical “play-safe” Malaysian, he usually bets against his favourite team, but still secretly prays they win, which is the most Malaysian contradiction ever. Meanwhile, there are those

through injury, stitched-up head and all. Butcher defined an era of football toughness that feels increasingly extinct in today’s era of overly pam pered footballers who need ice baths, load management plans, and a counselling ses sion before a 50-50 tackle. It is not always only blood that inspires Malaysians to embrace the beautiful game. Sometimes it is heartbreak served on a plate. For Coach Edwin Giam from YMCA KL Junior FC, it was the iconic missed penalty at the 1994 edi tion held in the USA. “When Roberto Baggio missed the penalty. It was my first World Cup, and I didn’t know much about football back then. In fact, Baggio was the first footballer’s name I ever learned,” said the 41 year-old youth coach. The Netherlands fan added, “The moment Baggio