World Cup Day 3: Fear of Tornado, California Heat, and VAR issue

The 2026 World Cup matches are coming thick and fast after host nations played their opening matches in the first two days. Similarly, various reports and off-field activities keep coming from the organizers of the Mundial and co-hosts. DailyTrust provides the daily round up for the third day of the tournament. Tornado warning keeps England […]

The 2026 World Cup matches are coming thick and fast after host nations played their opening matches in the first two days. Similarly, various reports and off-field activities keep coming from the organizers of the Mundial and co-hosts. DailyTrust provides the daily round up for the third day of the tournament.

Tornado warning keeps England indoors

Within 24 hours of the Three Lions suffering the theft of training gear leading to the criminal charge on two individuals, the threat of natural disaster ended England’s first training at their Swope Soccer Village base.

According to local news, the training that was open to the public was cut short due to a “Critical, Imminent Threat Alert” tornado warning to take shelter and England immediately moved inside their Inn at Meadowbrook hotel. This is further disruption of the team’s preparations in the lead to their opening match against Croatia.

VAR suffers brief technical issue

FIFA confirmed that the video assistant referee (VAR) suffered a brief technical outage during Switzerland’s match against Qatar. This led to absence of the usual line-drawing graphics displayed to the public as Switzerland were awarded a penalty from which they took the lead. FIFA however assured that the outage did not affect officials’ decision-making in the VAR room, and that the issue has been resolved. This is the first VAR-related incident in this tournament, and VAR’s next incident remains to be seen.

FIFA commits to pay referee Artan despite deportation

According to reports, referee Omar Artan denied entry to the US to join other officials for the World Cup will still receive his full tournament fee. The Somali was questioned for 11 hours before deportation back to Turkey from where FIFA assisted with his return to Somalia when he received a hero’s welcome.

According to BBC, FIFA has committed to paying his World Cup allowances that will be determined at the end of the tournament. Commendable.

Heat drives fans from unshaded seats in California

Empty seats are becoming an normal sight in this World Cup, but a new reason has been offered for the latest sight. While FIFA previously blamed technical issue with ticketing platform, the sweltering sun in Santa Clara was blamed for the absence of fans at their seats. The world football governing body earler blamed people watching from concourses for empty seats during South Korea and Czech Republic’s match. Shifting goalposts.

Ex-FIFA President slams body for border issues
Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has thrown a jab at the body he previously led for the various immigration issues suffered by countries and officials in this tournament. The disgraced former president stated on his X account that the safety and unrestricted access of participating players, officials, and referees are guaranteed by the host countries throughout the tournament, and highlighted the incident with Somali referee Omar Artan. Blatter’s rant comes hours after Iran won appeal for four officials to join the team to enter the US for their World Cup matches from Mexico, with a further 11 officials denied approvals again.