ByCharlotte Coates

BBC Sport journalist

England head coach Thomas Tuchel said the delay to their World Cup warm-up game with Costa Rica gave them a "little taste of what can happen" - but will that prove to be an understatement?

The match was due to start at 21:00 BST in Orlando, Florida, but heavy rain and thunderstorms pushed it back an hour to 22:00 BST.

Weather delays have been a major talking point in the build-up to this year's World Cup, with several matches in last year's Fifa Club World Cup in the United States impacted by thunderstorms.

This was not the first tournament warm-up game to suffer delays caused by storms either - and many fans are concerned it could become a theme throughout the World Cup.

"We were aware of that before - now we experience it," Tuchel told ITV before the game. "It's no problem.

"It should not be an excuse to lose our mood or patience or to lose our hunger to play the game.

"No problem at all. We realised it when we were still at the hotel so it was easy. We just said half an hour later in the bus and let's go."

Fans who had already arrived at Inter&Co Stadium were told to evacuate from the stands and retreat to a safe position on the concourses to avoid lightning strikes.

Thunderstorms in the US are not uncommon, but when it comes to them impacting matches, Fifa has no power to make its own rules and must adhere to the advice of local authorities.

Recommendations of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are used and they say if any lightning strike is detected within eight miles of a stadium, the game has to be stopped.

A mandatory 30-minute countdown begins and each time there is a lightning strike inside the distance, the countdown clock resets to 30 minutes.

If a full 30 minutes has elapsed, the supporters can go back to their seats and players will have a short warm-up.

'It might not be the worst thing to experience'

For fans watching around the world, delays could significantly impact their viewing experience - with an hour or two potentially the difference in watching or missing a match.

Scotland, for example, play Haiti on 14 June at 02:00 BST. With fans already facing a dilemma in terms of when to cram in sleep, a delay of even one hour could result in them having to end up missing the game altogether.

For England, with kick-off times in the group stage at 21:00 BST and 22:00 BST, the impact would be less major.

"It might not be the worst thing to experience," former Scotland defender Rachel Corsie told BBC Radio 5 Live. "My experience when I played in America it happened almost every weekend.

"The bit I hated the most was the fuelling part and the psychology of the fuelling. The routine and what you eat is big psychologically to your preparation."

Ex-England captain Steph Houghton added: "I think that was one of the question marks of the World Cup being in America, Canada and Mexico.

"There was the potential storms could affect the rhythm of the game."

What other games have been affected?

England's friendly with Costa Rica was not the first to be hit by extreme weather before the start of the World Cup.

The incident in Orlando followed last week's warm-up game between Saudi Arabia and Puerto Rico in Austin, Texas, which was stopped for almost two hours.

The match was brought to a halt in the 21st minute as thunderstorms and lightning forced players off ⁠the pitch, with ⁠spectators told to seek shelter.

Repeated lightning strikes led to multiple resets of ⁠the mandatory 30-minute delay before play eventually restarted.

While the Q2 Stadium will not host any World Cup matches, two stadiums in Texas will be used during the tournament.

There will be seven matches at the Houston Stadium, while the Dallas Stadium will host nine games, including England's group game against Croatia - although both venues have retractable roofs which can reduce the impact of the conditions.

What did we learn from Club World Cup?

The Club World Cup last year was British football fans' first experience of volatile weather in the US.

Six matches came to a halt due to electrical storms, with Chelsea's game against Benfica taking four hours and 38 minutes to complete.

The fixture in Charlotte, North Carolina, had kicked off at 16:00 local time, but was suspended in the 86th minute when lightning struck in the area.

Almost two hours passed before the storm had cleared. Players from both teams were spotted on exercise bikes or kicking balls around in the changing room, trying to keep active before the restart.

The game eventually resumed, with the final whistle blown at 20:38 local time - four hours and 38 minutes after the first whistle.

Then-Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca voiced his frustrations afterwards as he said: "It's a joke - this is not football.

"If you suspend seven, eight games, that means that probably is not the right place to do this competition."

With the 2026 World Cup taking place at the peak of thunderstorm season in several host cities, we are highly likely to see stoppages again.

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