USMNT to play in St. Paul in extreme cold, subzero wind chill
The U.S. Men's National Team played in temperatures around 30 degrees in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday and will play Sunday afternoon in Hamilton, Ontario with temps in the 20s.
But when they play their third winter FIFA World Cup Qualifying game in St. Paul on Wednesday, Old Man Winter is going to drop temperatures to a brutal level.
According to the National Weather Service, the high temp in St. Paul on Wednesday will be about 9 degrees, but by the time the game starts at 6:30 p.m. the air temp will be colder and the wind chill will be around -15F.
NWS
FIFA doesn't have specific guidance or rules about playing in extreme cold, but it does recommend that matches be canceled and rescheduled when the air temp is less than 5 degrees and when the wind chill is less that -16 degrees.
That's right about where both the air temp and wind chill could be when the U.S. takes on Honduras at Allianz Field.
It's unclear what the coldest FIFA World Cup Qualifying match is, but Wednesday's meeting will rival the coldest Major League Soccer game in history, which was set Feb. 20, 2018 when it was 3 degrees with a wind chill of -16 degrees at kickoff between the Colorado Rapids and Toronto FC.
It gets cold in Minnesota during the winter, so it should come as no surprise to professional leagues when some of the coldest games in sports history are played in the Land of 10,000 Frozen Lakes.
The coldest game in NHL history was just played on New Year's Day when the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues faced off at Target Field in Minneapolis with an air temp of -6F. And no one will forget the January 2016 playoff game between the Vikings and Seahawks at TCF Bank Stadium when the air temp was -6F with a wind chill of -25F.
The Twin Cities has had the air temp dip below zero 14 days this month, and February is expected to begin the same way as temps Feb. 1 (Tuesday) are expected to crash during the day as a strong cold front moves through, resulting in subzero temps Tuesday night and each following morning through Friday.
