England’s final friendly before the World Cup against Costa Rica in Florida has been delayed after heavy rain in the area left the pitch flooded as postponement fears caused
England’s friendly against Costa Rica in Orlando has been delayed after heavy rain left the pitch flooded.
Thomas Tuchel’s side are due to face the Central American outfit at 4pm eastern time (9pm BST), in the Inter&Co Stadium, Orlando, Florida but kick-off has been forced to be delayed.
Torrential downpour has left areas of the pitch flooded and the Three Lions have only just reached the stadium with staff members seen on the side of the pitch. Lightning strikes have occured around the stadium and fans have been forced to remain in the concourse inside the ground rather than taking their seats. A large screen at Orlando City’s stadium read: “Lightning strikes please seek shelter.”
Wednesday night’s fixture is England’s final game before they begin their World Cup campaign against Croatia in a week.
The decision was confirmed by England’s official social media account. A statement read: “Today’s game against Costa Rica has been delayed due to weather conditions in Orlando. We’ll provide further updates as soon as we have them.”
There are also lightning protocols in place where a game must be stopped for 30 minutes when a strike is recorded before play can resume; however, that timing will start again if there is a fresh strike.
There was also major travel disruption on the way to the ground, with former England international Stan Collymore posting that there had been a horrific car crash.
He wrote on his X page: “En route to Orlando for the game and sadly there’s been a very bad fatal accident around 60 miles away, helicopters the lot, a bridge may even be compromised.
“Doesn’t matter now about the game but if there are ( we’ve seen a lot) many England fans en route, that’s what’s happened.”
More to follow…
This is a breaking sports story and is being constantly updated with the latest news, pictures and videos. Please refresh the page regularly.
You can also get email updates on the day’s biggest sports stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our sports newsletter.
Get all the very best sports news, pictures, opinion and video by following Daily Star every time you see our name.
Follow Daily Star on Google News – CLICK HERE and click the star
Follow Daily Star on Apple News – CLICK HERE available on Apple devices
Follow Daily Star on Flipboard – CLICK HERE and click followYou can also sign up for Twitter alerts for breaking news by following @DailyStar_Sport and follow us @dailystar for all the latest updates.
Keep up-to-date with your must-see sports stories, features, videos and pictures throughout the day by following us on Facebook at Daily Star Football | London