Reporter in New Jersey shares concern before World Cup final as training sessions get canceled
Spain and Argentina are getting ready to face each other in the World Cup final on Sunday at the New York-New Jersey Stadium. However, their practice plans haven’t gone smoothly since some training sessions were cancelled.
There were worries the final might be delayed because of health warnings in New York City due to smoke blowing in from wildfires in Canada. City officials had even issued a “code red” from Tuesday to Thursday, asking people to stay indoors and avoid heavy exercise because of the thick smoke spreading across many eastern U.S. cities. This raised concerns about how the smoke might affect the players and the game itself.
Thankfully, these worries have eased a bit as the week went on, but new problems came up when both teams had to cancel training sessions. The weather hasn’t been great, with heavy rain and thunderstorms in New Jersey.
Spain had to postpone their last training at New York Red Bulls’ old training ground in Whippany before cancelling it completely due to lightning storms. Reporter Guillem Balague shared videos showing flooded roads around Spain’s training area. Now, the Spanish team plans to do a longer workout indoors instead.
Argentina faced similar issues at their training spot, the Red Bulls Performance Center in Morristown. They also delayed their practice because of lightning but, unlike Spain, the Argentine team went out in the rain to get some time on the pitch and prepare for the final.
Spain might be a bit annoyed they couldn’t train as they wanted as they aim for their second World Cup win. Meanwhile, Argentina is braving the bad weather, hoping to become just the third country to win back-to-back World Cup titles.