Weather wreaks havoc on Spain, Argentina day before World Cup Final
Nancy Armour and Jon Arnold report from the Spain and Argentina camps as weather disrupts preparations ahead of the 2026 World Cup Final
Sports Pulse
Editor’s note: Follow for live updates on England-France World Cup game
MORRISTOWN, NJ — Both teams competing in the FIFA World Cup final saw their final training sessions before Sunday’s match affected by thunderstorms rolling through the northern New Jersey area where Spain and Argentina were set to practice.
Spain was scheduled to begin its session at 11 a.m. ET, and its bus arrived as scheduled to the facility. But a FIFA official told reporters at Spain’s training that there has to be 30 minutes without lightning before training can take place. Without a window to complete the work, Spain opted to the cancel the training.
Argentina was set to begin at 11:30 a.m. at the home of the New York Red Bulls, around five miles from the facility where Spain will train but was also delayed because of the storm. The Albiceleste will look to get on the field at 12:15 p.m. local time.
Spain manager Luis de la Fuente spoke Friday about how important the last session before the final would be, with key players like Lamine Yamal and Pedro Porro having picked up knocks in a semifinal win over France and needing to work into full fitness before the decisive contest.
“Tomorrow we have the last training session. It’s one of the most critical moments, thinking that there can’t be any delays because you won’t make the game if there were some sort of adverse circumstance – hopefully not,” he said, referring to injury recovery. “But they’re all good.”
Despite seeing the session as a critical one, De la Fuente and his staff opted to change the plan and keep players comfortable instead of waiting in a locker room to take the field.
While the postponements will be unwelcome for the squads and the managers, the storm may come with a small benefit. The poor air quality that has plagued the New York-New Jersey area the past several days because of Canadian wildfires should improve after the storm, bringing AQI numbers down to non-concerning levels.
USA Today SPORTS’ Nancy Armour contributed to this report.
