{"id":172828,"date":"2026-06-22T23:08:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T23:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/172828\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T23:08:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T23:08:28","slug":"storms-halt-play-at-france-iraq-world-cup-match-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/172828\/","title":{"rendered":"Storms halt play at France-Iraq World Cup match in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 Heavy rain and an incoming thunderstorm prompted a delay at halftime of Monday\u2019s World Cup<\/a> match between France and Iraq and sent thousands of fans seeking shelter.<\/p>\n

It was the first rain delay of the tournament. There was also heavy rain ahead of Monday night\u2019s scheduled game between Norway and Senegal<\/a> in East Rutherford, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

With France leading 1-0 at halftime, scoreboard messages directed the crowd to take shelter in the stadium\u2019s covered areas, warning that a severe storm was on the way. Sheets of rain continued to fall through halftime as fans huddled in the concourse and under balconies.<\/p>\n

The stoppage was initially expected to extend the 15-minute halftime break by another 15 minutes. As the delay dragged on, stadium officials announced that \u201cthe game will resume when deemed safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

A FIFA rule requires games to be paused and seating areas evacuated for 30 minutes if lightning is detected within 8 miles. Each strike resets the clock.<\/p>\n

France and Iraq played through a downpour that started in the 37th minute. Fans donned ponchos and most stayed in their seats until they were told to find shelter at halftime.<\/p>\n

A small number of fans remained in their seats despite the warning. They were asked again by a public-address announcer to seek shelter.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP World Cup: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 Heavy rain and an incoming thunderstorm prompted a delay at halftime of Monday\u2019s World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[14],"tags":[2978,382,19556,94,20794,24705,1544,2576,549,5525,548],"class_list":["post-172828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iraq","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-france","tag-france-national-soccer-team","tag-iraq","tag-iraq-national-soccer-team","tag-pa-state-wire","tag-pennsylvania","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-storms","tag-weather"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116796280179804013","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}