Tornado sirens pierced the night skies of Kansas City on Saturday night, interrupting Scotland's first World Cup football match in 28 years for fans. Wails heard across the city heralded a chilling warning to locals and World Cup tourists alike: duck for cover, with dangerous and wild weather imminent.
FIFA Fan Festival Closed Early
Fans who may have hoped to spend their Saturday at the FIFA Fan Festival in Kansas City had their plans cut short, with the venue closed by 5pm after warnings of severe winds of up to 80 mph from America's weather bureau. The entire metro area remained under a tornado watch until 11pm local time, but for football fans the damage had already been done. Mass power outages interrupted Scotland streams and festivities, coming to abrupt ends across the state capital of Missouri, with tourists and locals alike told to shelter in place.
Two Tornadoes Confirmed
The US National Weather Service has now confirmed two tornadoes touched down in the Kansas City area just before 9pm, with more than 68,000 homes now without power as a result. First responders are racing to make neighbourhoods safe, with reports of downed power lines and fallen trees across the city.
England's Training Disrupted
While fans may have missed seeing Scotland take down Haiti for a win due to power outages cutting them off mid-game, the Scots weren't alone in having their style cramped on Saturday night. England have again run into strife, with the team arriving in Kansas City shortly before the weather turned for the worse. Thomas Tuchel's England squad were in the middle of a community training session when the first tornado sirens sounded at 5pm, cutting the public training session short at Swope Soccer Village. A crowd of around 700 fans were sent home and the English squad scrambled indoors, as digital and phone alerts issued advice to "shelter in a sturdy building, away from windows" as "flying debris may be deadly".
England's Bumpy Start
The weather is just the latest disruption to a so-far bumpy start to the 2026 FIFA World Cup for England. The Three Lions found themselves victims of theft last Friday, with their base raided of training equipment, including boots and official tournament balls. The stolen goods have since been recovered. Tuchel's England will open their World Cup campaign on Wednesday with a game against Croatia in Texas, before facing Ghana and Panama in Group L.
