England's final World Cup warm-up clash delayed by lightning storm

Shocking: England walked out to temperatures of 31 degrees celsius

7 June 2014

The England v Honduras match at the Sun Life Stadium in Miami was temporarily abandoned due to an electrical storm.

The referee Ricardo Salazar led the players and officials off for a half-hour break after thunder and lightning at the stadium.

The stadium's video screen displayed a message saying the match was being halted due to "inclement weather with associated lightning".

England manager Roy Hodgson remained calm and told ITV Sport: "We appreciate the referee's decision because he is very concerned about the players' safety.

“These storms can be very dangerous. All we can do is wait out the 30 minutes and see what the referee tells us after that."

Halted: Fans were informed of the delay via the scoreboard

When asked how long he would be prepared to wait for the game to resume, Hodgson said: "We're ready to play any time. The lads are enjoying it out there. They won't be worried about going back out again."

The England manager also joked that if the game did not restart, “the good thing is at least there'll be no more injuries."

It’s not the first time Hodgson has had to deal with an abandonment while managing England – the away World Cup qualifier at Poland in October 2012 was called off because of heavy rain.

After a period of 30 minutes, both sides returned to the pitch to warm-up again, before continuing the match.

England's final World Cup warm-up clash delayed by lightning storm

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