FIFA have been warned they risk the wrath of broadcasters if they don’t confront the weather issues that have blighted the Club World Cup.
Chelsea and Benfica were the latest to suffer as their clash was interrupted by a lightning strike.
Rules dictate that should there be such an event within an eight-mile radius, the game must be paused and players taken off the pitch.
In the Club World Cup Round of 16 clash, the Blues were easing to a 1-0 when, five minutes from the end, the delay began.
It took one hour and 53 minutes for play to eventually resume and almost immediately a penalty for Benfica, won via a Malo Gusto handball, was converted by Angel di Maria and took the match to extra-time.
Strikes from Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall sealed a 4-1 win – but four hours and 38 minutes after the original kick-off time.
Storms in six different cities have caused game delays at the revamped Club World Cup, while a heatwave has also seen delays needed in others putting pressure on FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
And Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca didn’t hold back when asked about the situation.
“For 85 minutes we were in control of the game. After the break, the game changed completely.
“For me it’s not football. It’s already seven, eight, nine games that they suspended. I think it’s a joke to be honest, it’s not football. It’s not for us. You cannot be inside.
“I struggle to understand. I can understand that for security reasons, you suspend the game. But if you suspend seven, eight games, that means that probably [this] is not the right place to do this competition.”
“I’m very happy,” he continued. “We are in the last eight of this fantastic competition. The team was very good. For me, one of the best performances in the last weeks and months.
“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. They [Benfica] scored because they need to chase. We are inside, we are winning. You go outside, mentally different. It’s difficult.
“We had an hour and a half, two-hour stop. Then it started completely different. It’s not the same game because you break the tempo. 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.
“It’s something that you struggle to understand. But we tried to go out, continue in the same way, knowing that it was difficult. It’s not random that for 85 minutes, we didn’t concede nothing. And then for five minutes, we conceded a few chances. Why? It’s because it started a completely different game.”
And former Chelsea and Benfica right-back Scott Minto believes FIFA need to get to grips with the situation or risk a backlash next summer at the World Cup.
He told the Weekend Sports Breakfast: “I thought listening to Enzo Maresca, he looked livid, didn’t he? He wanted to say a lot more than what he did.
“I thought he spoke really well, actually and very clearly, saying, look, I’m a football manager here I don’t want to say too much apart from the fact that this is happening on a regular basis. Then why are we here in the first place?
“The rules are it’s reset every for a further 30 minutes every time another lightning strike occurs within an eight-mile radius, and the pictures that we were getting the sun was coming out, let alone there was no rain or storm or anything.
“So I think, one, they’ve got to look at that. Two, if that’s not going to move then they need to look at whether they should be playing where they’re playing because this should not happen in an Under-10s tournament, let alone in a Club World Cup run by FIFA
“There’s a massive issue. The only thing I can say is, and I always think to myself when everything goes wrong how can I turn a negative into a positive?
“Well, there’s some negatives here and they need to learn some lessons because this cannot happen in the World Cup.
“And I’m pretty sure the broadcasters all around the world But especially in Europe with the time change, you know, time zones they’ll be saying, we’re not having this.
“So, you know, you better pick your locations very carefully indeed.”
