Citing storm delays, Chelsea coach asks whether some American cities are "the right place" to play

NBC Sports

10 hours ago

The Club World Cup is happening currently in multiple American cities. The weather is prompting some to ask whether certain American cities should be excluded from such events.
After a 113-minute weather delay in Charlotte on Saturday, Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca sounded off about the situation.
'For me personally it's not football,' Maresca said, via Oliver Kay of TheAthletic.com. '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.'
During the Club World Cup, six games have been delayed due to weather. Three delays lasted longer than an hour.
Maresca's point is that a delay changes the fundamental nature of the game, which features mostly non-stop action for a pair of 45-minute halves.
'The problem is that when the game is suspended, it's not football,' he said. '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.'
He has no problem with the competition. His concern is that the number of delays has altered the nature of the games.
'It's not normal to suspend a game,' Maresca said. 'In a World Cup, how many games are suspended? Zero, probably. In Europe, how many games? Zero.'
Well, next year's World Cup could have some suspensions. The games will be played from June 11 through July 19. And several American cities that experience thunderstorms will be hosting open-air games, including Kansas City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Miami.
Then there's New Jersey. Which will be hosting the World Cup Final.
So if a weather delay makes non-American football not non-American football, there could be some non-non-American football in America next summer.