Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca has labelled the Club World Cup’s storm delays a “joke” and questioned whether some American cities are “the right place” to host games in a major tournament.
Weather conditions in Charlotte forced a near-two-hour-delay to Chelsea’s round-of-16 clash with Benfica on Saturday evening before the Premier League team ran out 4-1 winners in extra time.
Maresca was furious that play was suspended for 113 minutes while match officials waited for the storm to pass over the Bank of America Stadium. It was the sixth storm-enforced interruption of the Club World Cup and the third delay of more than an hour.
Angel Di Maria scored a controversial penalty in stoppage time following the restart to send it into extra-time and while Chelsea ultimately won, the game did not finish until 8.38pm, four hours and 38 minutes after it started.
“For me personally it’s not football,” Marseca said when asked how difficult it was to play after the stoppage. “It’s already seven, eight, nine games that they suspended. It’s a joke to be honest, it’s not football. It’s not for us. You cannot be inside. I can understand that for security reasons, you are to suspend the game. But if you suspend seven, eight games, that means it is probably not the right place to do this competition.
“The problem is that when the game is suspended, it’s not football. Guys, it’s not football. You suspend the game, it’s not football. It’s completely something different. So I’m happy, very happy. But at the same time, there are things that you struggle to understand for two hours before the game and then go again. And you see it. They scored because they need to chase. We are inside, we are winning. You go outside, mentally different. It’s difficult.”
Asked whether he was talking specifically about the stadium in Charlotte, Maresca said: “No, no, no. I ask you, if in this competition, they already suspended six, seven, eight games, probably there is something that is not working well. Because in a football game, it’s not normal to suspend a game. This is what I said.”
And when asked if the delays were damaging the competition, Maresca said: “Guys, please, don’t misunderstand me. I said it’s a fantastic competition. It’s a Club World Cup. It’s top. We are happy to be in the last eight. We are happy to win all these kind of things. But something happens, six, seven games suspended, probably the one that they decide, they need a reason, because it’s not normal to suspend a game. In a World Cup, how many games are suspended? Zero, probably. In Europe, how many games? Zero.”
Club World Cup stadia – roof or no roof?
Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Atlanta
Retractable
Bank of America Stadium
Charlotte
Open
TQL Stadium
Cincinnati
Canopy (covers seats but not pitch)
Rose Bowl
Pasadena
Open
Hard Rock Stadium
Miami
Canopy (covers most seats but not pitch)
GEODIS Park
Nashville
Canopy provides partial coverage for fans
MetLife Stadium
New York
Open
Camping World Stadium
Orlando
Open
Inter&Co
Orlando
Canopy provides partial coverage for fans
Lincoln Financial Field
Philadelphia
Open
Lumen Field
Seattle
Partial roof covers 70% of seats but not pitch
Audi Field
Washington, D.C.
Partial roof – covers east and west sides
Chelsea posted pictures during the weather break of their players using exercise bikes and playing football in the dressing room to stay ready but Maresca suggested it was not possible to keep the usual focus.
“It’s not the same game because you break the tempo,” he said. “So two hours inside; people speak with the family outside, if they were good, the security. People eating, people laughing, people talking on the mobile. It’s two hours. That’s why I said it’s not football.”
The victory means Chelsea will play Palmeiras at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on July 4. Win that and they will play a semi-final, and possibly a final, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, which is one of the other venues to have suffered a weather delay at the Club World Cup.
How many games have been suspended at the Club World Cup because of the weather?
Five Club World Cup group games had been delayed by the weather before Chelsea’s match against Benfica became the first knockout match to be suspended.
Ulsan and Mamelodi Sundowns in Orlando, Florida, was delayed by more than an hour on June 17. The following day in Cincinnati, Ohio, roughly 900 miles away, Red Bull Salzburg’s match against Pachuca was delayed for 97 minutes because of severe thunderstorms.
Then on June 19 at MetLife Stadium, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which is the final venue for this tournament and the 2026 World Cup, the match between Palmeiras and Al Ahly was suspended briefly as flash storms rolled through the region amid scorching heat that left fans scrambling for shade and water. In nearby Central Park in Manhattan, less than 14 miles away, a 15-year-old survived after being struck by lightning.
The longest weather delay came when Benfica’s 6-0 win over Auckland City was held up by a two-hour weather delay due to thunderstorms in Orlando, again. Auckland were forced off again in their final group game against Boca Juniors at Geodis Park in Nashville, returning from a 40-minute delay in which time the Argentinian club had been eliminated by the result in the other group game, to draw 1-1 .
Can we expect this to happen at the World Cup?
Yes. “What you’re seeing right now is very typical. This is not unusual at all,” Ben Schott, operations chief with the National Weather Service, told The Athletic in the opening week. “Next year, we may be going through the same thing.”
Scott has been working closely with FIFA and organizers over the past eight months to prepare for next year, and is overseeing his agency’s planning for the 2028 Olympics in L.A.
“This time of year, especially east of the Rockies, we see thunderstorm development quite frequently. Especially in the northern half of the U.S., (from) Cincinnati all the way east to New York,” Schott said. “It’s not unusual this time of year to have cold fronts coming through, producing thunderstorms that are going to come through. That can come through every three to five, seven days.”
It should be noted that of the six delays, only the one at MetLife took place in a city that will stage World Cup games, as Orlando, Cincinnati, Nashville and Charlotte all missed out on hosting rights. The map below shows where the World Cup matches will be held.
Where will the rest of the Club World Cup games be played?
In addition to the final of this year’s tournament, MetLife Stadium will host both semi-finals and a quarter-final — the winners of Real Madrid v Juventus and Borussia Dortmund v Monterrey.
Orlando has twice had games delayed and the Camping World Stadium will play host to Manchester City v Al Hilal on Monday June 30 and the winner of that game versus the winner of Inter v Fluminense in a quarter-final on July 4.
The Inter v Fluminense game is being staged at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Monday, where Chelsea were so delayed.
Flamengo v Bayern Munich and Real Madrid v Juventus are being played at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which was criticised for its hosting of the Copa America final last summer but has staged games without serious incident at this tournament.
The other two round of 16 games will be played at Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium, which is the only one of the 12 tournament venues to have a full roof.
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(Top photo: Justin Setterfield – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)